


You Could Be A Sweet Dream Or A Beautiful Nightmare

by keissu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, its basically the same as BN except that i actually plan on finishing this, this is a continuation of the fic "Beautiful Nightmare"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-11 23:38:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15982925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keissu/pseuds/keissu
Summary: Either way IDon't wanna wake up from youAs Lance enters college, he reconnects with his former rival, Keith Kogane. The more Lance thinks about him, the more he wants to be involved in Keith's life. But he would never be prepared for the secret Keith hides from the rest of society.





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a repost of the fic ["Beautiful Nightmare"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12288063/chapters/27933270) that i posted on my old account. i felt bad for abandoning it like i did so i decided to revisit it and finish what i started.
> 
> Here we go!

“Did you get to sign up for your classes yet?” Hunk, Lance’s big friend asks. They had recently graduated high school about two months ago. Now that August is nearing, both teens are both eager and anxious to start their new life in a community college.

“Yeah,” says Lance, who is lying on his bed. Hunk is sitting in his desk chair in front of a fan that is blowing into his hair, making the ends of his headband flap a little. “I enrolled for classes a bit late, so for some, I’m gonna go at night.” Lance fans himself with the paper fan in his hand.

“Wait, what?” Hunk sits up in his seat. “At night? Are you sure that’s safe? What if something happens to you on your way to class? What if you get mugged? Or worse, kidnapped?! Or what if-”

“Whoa, slow down there big guy,” Lance sits up so he can properly look at his friend, “First of all, nothing’s gonna happen. Second, I could get the campus police to escort me to my car if I want to.”

The worry on Hunk’s face eases a little at the information, “Oh. Well, just, be careful okay? I wouldn’t know what I’d do with myself if my best friend got hurt.”

Lance gives him a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry. I will.”

 

-

 

The first day of college arrives and Lance is excited. He’s eager to meet his new classmates and explore the campus a little. Unfortunately, he won’t be seeing Hunk for most of the day since Hunk was able to snag some morning classes before they got filled up. Lance’s classes don’t start until 2PM in the afternoon with his last class ending at around 9:30PM. Three classes back to back that meet twice a week. His fourth class meets another two times a week at noon but won’t officially start until tomorrow. For now though, Lance has the luxury of sleeping in until noon. A luxury he only dreamed of when he was still in high school. When he wakes up, he’s left feeling refreshed.

Lance gets ready by putting on his best outfit for the warm weather – a white tank top, a pair of khaki shorts, his favorite blue snapback, and a pair of grey vans – and slings his backpack over his shoulder. He grabs his car keys and gives a kiss goodbye to his mom before heading out.

As expected on the first day, Lance has trouble finding a good parking spot. He eventually finds one rather far off from his first class. At least it’s better than nothing.

As he walks towards the large campus, Lance double checks his class schedule for the meeting times and locations. Fortunately, there are tables set up where Lance enters the campus with maps of the college. Lance takes one, thanking the counselor lady running the stand, and starts looking for his first class.

He makes it to class in time to grab a good seat in the middle. The first class of the day is Astronomy taught by some Professor Smythe. Lance probably should’ve looked up this guy in the college forums.

Lance fiddles with his phone for a bit while the classroom slowly begins to fill. Right when class is about to start, a middle-aged ginger man enters the classroom with his head held high, walking towards the front of the class. The class is silent as he begins to write on the white board. It seems to be the agenda for the class today.

When he’s finished, he turns around with a big smile on his face. “Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Astronomy 100, where we talk mainly about our solar system, getting into great detail about our neighboring planets, and even study the sun. I’m your professor, Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe. But you may call me Coran or Professor Smythe.”

He goes to start up the projector but seems to have trouble getting it to work. “C’mon you hunk of junk.” He lightly smacks at it until the projector turns on. “See? All you have to do is abuse technology a little bit for it to work like it’s supposed to.” That earns a soft laugh from the class. Oh, Lance already likes  _this_ professor.

 

-

 

Classes go by smoothly. Since it’s the first day, it all mainly consisted of going over the syllabus and then something to get the class to get to know each other before starting the first lesson. Lance is now heading towards his last class of the evening. He resists the urge to wrap his arms around himself from the chill of the air. He knew he should’ve brought a jacket.

This last class is English 100 and it’s on the third floor of one of the buildings. Lance is glad to find an elevator. He presses the button and waits for it to come down. When it finally dings, the doors slide open and Lance steps inside. Right after he presses the “3” button and the doors start to close is when he hears someone yell, “Wait! Stop the elevator!”

Lance places his hand on one side of the doors to keep it from closing. He looks around to see who yelled for the elevator and spots someone jogging in his direction. He steps aside as to let said person into the elevator. But Lance freezes, because the person who is coming closer is someone he thought he would never see again.

They come into the elevator, panting lightly, and Lance remembers to let go of the door. He leans back against the elevator wall for support as he looks at this person who is sporting a familiar mullet.

“K-Keith?”

Keith looks up, confused, “Uh, yeah?”

Lance’s mind is going a million miles a minute. He fumbles for what to say, “I. You. We are. I mean,” Lance shakes his head to clear his thoughts and tries again, “I just, never thought I’d see you around here.”

Keith just looks at him, “Do I… know you from somewhere?”

Lance gapes. How does Keith, Lance’s former rival from junior year, not remember him?! “Uh, the name’s Lance.” Keith blinks at him. “You know, from back at Garrison High School?” Still nothing. “We were like rivals, you know, Lance and Keith!”

Something must’ve clicked in Keith because his face goes from confused to something sour, “Oh wait, I remember you.” The elevator dings just in time and the doors slide open. Keith doesn’t spare a last glance at Lance as he stalks out of the elevator. Lance just stares at Keith’s retreating form.

“Geez, what’s with that guy?” He breathes.

Lance fishes out his schedule to look at the classroom number and begins to navigate the hallway. While he looks for his classroom, Lance thinks about how he has to see Keith now on his way to this class. Maybe not if either one of them drops their class. Either way, Lance would like to not see him again.

Lance finds the classroom and enters. He can’t tell if it’s chillier outside or in  _here_. He takes a seat towards the back where it’s closest to the door and takes out his phone and immediately texts Hunk about the whole exchange.

 

_Lance: Hunk! You wont believe what just happened to me!!_

_Lance: I ran into Keith!! Of all people to share elevator space with…_

_Lance: And he didn’t even remember me at first!!! Can you believe that?!?!_

Lance puts his phone away and looks around the class. It’s brimming full and there’s only a few minutes until class starts. He guessed that not many people take night classes but maybe this class in particular was popular. Everyone needed to take English.

The door opens and everyone turns to look. A tall, buff, older man enters with a folder tucked under his arm and everyone immediately sits up straight. He has a tuft of white hair surrounded by normal black hair. He also has a scar over his nose and a prosthetic arm. The man practically sticks out like a sore thumb.

He makes it to his desk and looks around the class, “Good evening, everyone. I’m your English professor, Takashi Shirogane. But you all may call me ‘Shiro’.” Shiro opens his folder and takes out what appears to be a list. “There are a lot of you and as some of you may know, there is a limit to how many students I can have in a class. So if you’re on the waiting list, you might not hold a spot for my class.”

Lucky for Lance, he was right above the cutoff point of said list. Five students had to leave the classroom however and Lance noticed how sincerely bummed they were. One of them refused to leave her seat until one of her friends (who also had to leave the class) dragged her out. It wasted a bit of class time to say the least.

Shiro starts taking attendance when Lance’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He fishes it out and sees that Hunk had replied to his messages.

 

_Hunk: are you sure it was him??_

He goes to type something out when he hears Shiro say, “Keith Kogane.” Lance looks up in time to see Keith quietly raise his hand. Keith is in his class? How…

“Lance McClain.” Lance snaps out of it in time to mutter a “here” all while starring down at the back of Keith’s head a few rows in front of him. He lifts his phone a little to get a picture and proceeds to send it to Hunk.

 

_Lance: sent a photo._

_Lance: I’d recognize that mullet anywhere_

_Hunk: whoa he’s in your class?_

_Lance: I know!!! I was shocked too!!_

Lance tucks his phone away and tries to focus on class right now. Fortunately, the teacher serves as a pretty good distraction as he goes over the syllabus. The rest of the class consisted of annotating a narrative and an open class discussion. Lance notices that his classmates seemed over eager to answer Shiro’s questions. He thinks it’s something about his aura that draws people in. Despite the challenging curricular, it only fuels Lance to put in more effort for this class.

Class ends and Lance would normally be eager to leave the last class of the evening (hence why he sat closest to the door), but he’s feeling up to socializing a little with the teacher. He had to get the class id code to fully enroll into the class anyway.

So Lance starts walking up to the front of the class where a small crowd of students are already surrounding Shiro. One of them being Keith.

“Here, how about I write the code on the board for you guys,” says Shiro. He uncaps a marker that looks tiny in his hands and starts writing in big clear letters. People have their phones out to take a picture of the code for future use (and probably to take a picture of their teacher, Lance thinks).

The small crowd finally disperses and Lance is about to talk to Shiro when he sees Keith swoop in and start talking to him.

“Hey, Keith. How has your night been?” Keith only shrugs. He’s only been spectating for five seconds but Lance can already sense the familiarity these two had with each other. Lance must’ve made a face because Shiro turns to him and asks, “Hello, is there something wrong?”

“Uh,” Lance tries to recover, “I just wanted to talk to you about, uh, the assignments.” He glances at Keith and sees that he’s frowning at him, probably for interrupting them.

“Sure. What questions do you have?”

Lance takes a moment to think, then says, “I was wondering, is this the type of class where I get to resubmit any assignment for a better grade or will there be enough help while working on the assignments?”

Shiro places a hand on his chin as if in deep thought, “You know, I’ve never thought of allowing students to resubmit assignments. The curriculum  _is_ pretty fast paced so I wasn’t sure if allowing that would just put more pressure on the students.” He smiles, “But I’ll think about it.”

“Is that all?” Keith growls out. Shiro seemed to want to reprimand Keith for that.

But Lance would rather not have any confrontation with his former rival in front of a cool-looking teacher. “Yes. That’s all.” He grins, finding Keith’s annoyed face funny for some reason and walks out of the classroom.

 

-

 

The second day of school went much more smoothly than the first. But in the end, Lance decided to drop his fourth class since he had a handful of homework and studying to do just from two classes.

“So, you’ll only be taking three classes this semester?” Hunk and Lance are sitting in the grassy area of the campus right by the student lounge/cafeteria. They’re in the shade, which makes the afternoon breeze feel cool.

“Mmhmmm, I thought about it and since I wasn’t really super studious back in high school, I thought I should ease into my workload,” Lance takes a sip of his pink lemonade.

“Wow,” Hunk smiles at him, “I never thought you’d be taking this whole college thing so seriously.”

“Well, I’d rather not fail a class that I’m paying for,” Lance leans back so that he’s lying on his back.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

They sit in silence for a while until Hunk’s phone dings. He checks it and moves to gather his things, “I gotta go. Pidge just got out of school and he says he wants to get back to the robot we’ve been working on.”

Lance sits back up, “Do you want me to take you?” He goes to grab his car keys but Hunk stops him.

“No, it’s fine. He’s on his way over here now. We picked a meeting place on another part of campus.”

“Cool,” Lance lies back down and starts to close his eyes, a nap sounding ideal right about now, “Tell him I said hi.”

Hunk leaves with a final goodbye and Lance is left lounging about in the grass. He  _could_ go home now and pick up Hunk later. Or he could take a well-deserved rest here without his mom berating him for sleeping during the day. Even if Lance had picked the former, his body decided on the latter as his eyes grow heavy and soon, he’s sound asleep.

 

-

 

“Good work, everyone. Have a safe trip home.” Shiro ends the class session a little bit early. Some good progress was made and the class had finished the lesson plan rather quickly. As Lance is packing up, he notices Keith walking up to Shiro again.

Lance tries to listen in on their conversation by packing slower. But the conversation was short lived as Shiro pats Keith’s shoulder and Keith walks away towards the door. All packed up, Lance leaves the classroom and decides to take the stairs on the way down.

While on his way to the parking lot, he notices Keith walking ahead of him, heading towards the same direction. Lance decides to take a picture of him to send to Hunk and make fun of that haircut again. Lance holds up his phone and tries to get it to focus while walking. Through the phone screen, he sees that Keith has stopped walking and is now turned around, facing him. Uh oh.

“Can I help you?” His tone is annoyed and there’s a crease between his brows.

But Lance recovers quickly, “No thanks. I was just taking a selfie.” He goes further by lifting a hand to do a peace sign and pretends to take a picture. He actually took a picture of Keith’s unimpressed face.

“Whatever,” Keith turns back and starts walking again.

Lance just stands there, letting some distance grow between them. He quickly opens up his text messages and sends Hunk the picture.

 

_Lance: sent a photo._

_Lance: I was trying to take a pic of his hair but he turned around and saw me_

He puts his phone back in his pocket and starts walking in the direction of the parking lot where his car is at.

When he gets there, he takes out his car keys and unlocks the car door. “Hey there, old blue.” Lance gingerly glides his hand across the top of the car where some of the car’s blue paint is chipped at the edges. He opens the car door and steps into the driver’s seat. He tosses his backpack in the back and starts the ignition.

He goes to back up out of the parking space when a red motorcycle zooms by. Lance would’ve thought it was really cool had he not recognized the red cropped jacket. It was definitely Keith.

Lance tries not to think about it too much on the drive home. When he’s parked in front of his house, he digs for his phone to see if Hunk had replied.

 

_Hunk: and you still took a picture??_

Lance laughs to himself as he types, remembering the look on Keith’s face. Heck, he even has a picture of it.

 

_Lance: yeah lol_

_Lance: but I covered it up by pretending to take a selfie_

 

Lance steps out of his car and retrieves his backpack. He slams the door shut and walks up to the front door of his house. Once inside, he goes to his room and tosses his backpack on the bed and changes into more comfortable clothes. He could get started on the reading tonight and finish it tomorrow.

His phone buzzes right as he’s about to start his assignment.

 

_Hunk: I know you cant see me right now but I want you to know I just let out my longest sigh ever_

_Hunk: just admit your crush on keith has resurfaced_

_Lance: I do NOT have a crush on keith!!_

_Hunk: uh huh. Sure_

Lance just stares at his phone, trying to think of a rebuttal. Lance definitely never had a crush on Keith. He definitely didn’t panic that one day in math class of junior year when he wrote out a love note to the guy only to scribble it out and write a new one that said, “get out of my school” and chucked it at his head. And the whole rivalry thing definitely wasn’t an elaborate ruse just to get the boy’s attention. Nope.

 

_Lance: anyway, im gonna do a little homework before turning in for the night_

_Hunk: alright, ‘night buddy_

_Lance: gnight_

Lance lets out a sigh. He never would have expected to see Keith again this first week. And to top it all off, he’s in the same class as him. Lance had to admit, he didn’t know what had happened to Keith after he was expelled towards the end of junior year. All he knew was that Keith had punched their homeroom teacher Mr. Iverson in the halls one afternoon. And that was the end of it.

Still, Lance couldn’t help but feel sort of glad to see Keith again. Maybe a part of him had missed the one-sided rivalry. Lance definitely had more time to flirt with girls and have fun during senior year. Extending his arms over his head, Lance stretches before diving right in to the assignment.

He goes for about thirty minutes before the lethargy kicks in. Lance gets up from his desk and plops onto his bed. He’d rather not fall asleep on his desk to wake up with a sore neck. He closes his eyes and soon, he falls asleep. He dreams of a red motorcycle and long flowing black hair.

 

-

 

It’s quiet in the halls of the hospital. Keith stalks into a medical storage room. He finds the storage unit and opens it, quickly taking a few of its contents and sticking them in his jacket. He closes it and stalks back out into the hallway.

Satisfied that he went undetected, he walks back to the employee break room. But he stops dead in his tracks as he sees that it’s not empty. The other volunteer is sitting at the table, her arms crossed and is now looking at him.

“Where did you go off to, Keith?” Her voice is cold and devoid of any real concern.

Keith’s grip on his jacket tightens but his face remains as calm as ever. “I was just taking a walk through the halls,” he glances at the clock hanging on the wall, “It’s almost the end of your shift. Make sure you get home safely, Allura.”

Allura turns away from him to grab her purse and stands. Keith moves so that she can walk past him, but Allura stops and looks at him, “Goodnight, Keith.” And walks away.

After she’s out of earshot, Keith lets out a breath and moves quickly to put the stolen contents into his backpack.

 

-

 

“So, basically, I’ve been having the same dream for the last couple of nights but I can’t remember any of it.” Lance and Hunk are walking together towards the library. Or rather, Lance is going to the library and Hunk is going to the science building that just happens to be on the way.

Hunk places a hand on his chin in thought, “Hmm. Have you tried writing it down as soon as you wake up? You know, like writing in a dream journal.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea! Hunk you’re a genius!” Lance wraps his arms around his friend and plants a loud kiss on his cheek. “I’ll try to remember to do that for tonight.”

They make it to the library steps and both friends part ways. As Lance climbs the steps, he thinks about how he wants to go about spending his time in the library. While studying was important, so are breaks, so he thinks about scheduling a couple of breaks while he’s there.

It’s past 5PM and the sun is already setting. So Lance is somewhat surprised to see the library to be brimming with people. A friendly librarian greets Lance as he enters.

He walks around the area looking for a place to sit and study. He finds a semi empty table and starts to unpack his things. Despite there being so many people, it’s amazingly quiet in the library.

Lance takes out his Astronomy textbook and starts thumbing through the pages. He has a quiz tomorrow and hasn’t really studied until now. Better late than never.

After about an hour sitting there, the table has cleared and there’s now fewer people in the library. Lance decides now would be a good time for a break and sits up to stretch a little only to freeze because suddenly Keith is on the other end of the table. Since when did he get there?

And not only that, but there are several books stacked beside him. Keith must’ve felt Lance staring because he turns to him with that same annoyed look on his face.

“Can I help you?”

Lance just looks at him and then back at the stack of books. “No thanks, but uh, what’re you doing here?”

That just makes Keith scowl harder at him. “I’m researching for that English paper, which you probably already forgot about.”

It’s true, Lance did forget. But he wasn’t about to let Keith know he was right. So he leans back in his seat, “I’ll have you know, Kogane, that I have other classes to study for. So if you’ll  _excuse_  me.” He turns in his seat so he faces away from the other boy.

Keith just scoffs, “You were the one who interrupted  _me_.” Lance decides to ignore that.

He knows he should be studying, but Lance takes out his phone to text Hunk.

 

_Lance: Hunk!! Guess who’s here…_

Lance leaves his phone on his lap and pretends to study. Soon, his phone vibrates and he quickly opens the message.

 

_Hunk: is it keith??_

_Lance: yes!! AND he’s sitting at MY table!!_

_Lance: he’s doing research for a paper for English_

_Hunk: lemme guess, you forgot about the paper_

_Lance: yeah….._

Lance hears Keith snort but when he looks up, his face is as neutral as ever.

 

_Hunk: just focus on studying for now_

_Hunk: don’t let that guy get to you_

_Lance: you’re right_

_Lance: I’ll see you in an hour_

Lance puts his phone away in his pocket and goes back to studying. About ten minutes pass and Lance already feels his eyes start to droop a little. Who knew studying could take so much out of you?

“You know, Lance,” Lance is startled to alertness at the sound of Keith’s voice, “I don’t actually hate you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Lance mumbles, “What gave you that idea?”

Keith rolls his eyes but continues, “I just wanted to clear the air since we’re classmates and all.”

Lance just narrows his eyes at him, “Where is all this coming from?”

“Just-” Keith lets out a frustrated sigh, “Just take it as a truce to whatever tension we’ve had in the past.” Before Lance could say anything, Keith gets up, gathers his belongings, and leaves.

Lance mulls over the words Keith had said to him.  _A truce to the tension they’ve had in the past_. That seemed oddly mature of him to say. But then again, they’re technically adults now. They aren’t the bored teenagers they were once before. They couldn’t possibly have any time to go back to competing at anything and everything. And for some reason, that makes Lance feel a bit sad.

 

-

 

Lance wakes up at around noon on Thursday. He remembers what Hunk had told him yesterday and sits up in his bed. He grabs his phone and opens the notes app. He tries to remember the dream he just had while it’s still fresh on his mind and begins typing.

 

_I dreamed about being held in strong arms. There was a lot of purple and I saw a pale face surrounded by long black hair, smiling at me. It wasn’t creepy or anything. Dream me thought it was really beautiful…_

That’s all Lance can remember. He reads it over and over again. Then a sudden realization dawns on him. Did he… dream about Keith? There’s no way. It was probably some random person. Or a girl. Yeah, definitely a girl. It had to be.

Lance thinks about how his sleeping schedule has him start having very realistic type of dreams. Dreams that would leave him feeling a little disoriented upon waking up but still unable to remember what happened in them.

So for the next couple of days, Lance tries to add a little more to the dream note he’s written. Maybe he’ll catch something important. And, quite frankly, it wasn’t helping to disprove that it wasn’t Keith. But in those couple of days, Lance felt that he kind of enjoyed dreaming about him. Because in those dreams, Keith is smiling, laughing even, and Lance feels warmth blossom in his chest whenever he tries to remember how it looks like…

Which leaves Lance in a mental crisis. He’s in English class one night, sitting in the back so he can hide himself texting Hunk.

 

_Lance: HUNK!!!_

_Lance: Hunk pls answer!!! I think im having a crisis!!_

Lance can’t help shaking his leg in place out of impatience for Hunk to answer. Thankfully, Hunk answers almost right away.

 

_Hunk: what is it?_

_Lance: ok, so. You know how I was having those really realistic dreams right?_

_Hunk: yeah, did you write them down?_

_Lance: yeah guess who I’ve been dreaming about!!!!_

_Hunk: it’s keith isn’t it_

_Lance: how’d you know?!?!?_

_Lance: wait, don’t answer that_

_Hunk: you’ve been kinda obsessing over him since school started_

_Hunk: oh sorry_

_Lance: ughhhhh_

Lance glances up to look at the back of Keith’s head. He has his hair tied up into a ponytail and Lance’s first instinct is to quickly take a picture.

 

_Lance: sent a photo._

_Lance: why does he look so…_

_Hunk: cute?_

_Lance: I WASN’T GONNA SAY THAT_

_Hunk: oh yeah totally_

_Hunk: look I get youre panicking_

_Hunk: and tbh, I was sorta suspecting this day would come_

_Lance: what do you mean???_

_Hunk: you’re questioning who you like right? You know you like girls but you’ve had crushes on guys_

_Lance: well yeah…_

_Hunk: and those parties we’d go to senior year? Didn’t you at least check out SOME guys?_

_Lance: yeah, I definitely did…_

_Lance: wait a minute_

_Lance: are you telling me im bi??_

_Hunk: doesn’t that explain things?_

Lance thinks for a moment. Did he really crush on boys? He thought he was just very comfortable with his sexuality to say some guys were attractive.

 

_Lance: ok ok, I guess it makes sense_

_Hunk: see? You DID have a crush on keith_

_Hunk: and you just wanted his attention by making up this rivalry between you two_

_Lance: hey!! He may be pretty but I just couldn’t stand him being better than me!!_

_Lance: anyway, thanks for helping man_

_Hunk: no problem buddy :)_

Lance tucks his phone away and pays his attention back to the class. The rest of the evening becomes a blur as Lance walks out of class, heads to his car, and drives home. He recalls parking in front of his house, locking the car doors and the front door of his house before heading to bed.

He could’ve done some homework like he always does when he gets home, but Lance can’t bring himself to get up from the bed. So he just lays there, thinking about how he’ll most likely see Keith again in his dreams. So, Lance closes his tired eyes and soon falls asleep, immediately dreaming about red and a black ponytail.

Lance finds his dreams start changing a little in the next couple of nights. But they all have one thing in common. Keith. Keith smiling, laughing, and even touching Lance. There have been some nights where Lance doesn’t dream about anything at all. But the pattern continues nonetheless. And every night, Lance is eager to go to bed in hopes of seeing him again once he closes his eyes.


	2. Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Keith appears ill due to "malnourishment", Lance decides to help.

The only thing illuminating the dark room is the harsh light of a laptop screen. The youth typing away at the laptop sits hunched over the device, only occasionally moving to stretch or to take a sip of a beverage.

The door cracks open an inch, letting in the light of the hallway, startling the youth. A woman sticks her head into the dark room, “Katie, honey. It’s almost midnight.”

“I know, mom,” says the youth, “And please, stop calling me that. I know we’re at home, but I can’t slip up my disguise  _now_.”

“Sorry, honey,” apologizes the woman, “ _Pidge_ , it’s almost midnight. You can finish what you’re doing tomorrow.”

Pidge sighs, “Okay, I’ll go to bed now.” The woman smiles before closing the door. Pidge closes the laptop and slowly climbs into bed.

 

-

 

Despite it being so late, the break room is filled with tired employees and volunteers. Two of which are talking with each other in the otherwise quiet room. Keith remains absorbed in his phone, but he can hear their hushed conversation clearly.

“Is it really true?” asks a volunteer,” But who would do that?”

“I don’t know,” says the one wearing teal scrubs, most likely an employee, “The higher ups said they would look at the security cameras. But for now though, they said they’re gonna start doing bag checks with everyone, including the volunteers.”

That might pose a problem. Keith didn’t need to take anything tonight though, but he is going to run out of his supplies eventually. Before that happens, he’s going to have to change tactics, and soon.

Keith didn’t need to look up to see if Allura is eyeing him. He knows she is. And from her line of vision, Keith hopes it appears that he’s not listening.

 

-

 

“Can anyone tell me what the author of the passage is trying to say here?” Several students raise their hand at Shiro’s question. While these open class discussions aren’t really a favorite for Lance, it serves as a good cover to get distracted in class, especially since Shiro doesn’t have to resort to calling on people.

It’s only been a couple of weeks since Lance accepted that he liked Keith. But now he’s not sure what to do. He  _could_ just walk up to him and start flirting with him, but Lance isn’t sure if Keith is even gay. If it turned out he wasn’t, then that would definitely make things awkward. And based on their last conversation back at the library, Keith seemed to want to be friends, unless Lance was reading into it too much.

Lance slumps in his seat in defeat and stares ahead. The white board is filled with Shiro’s neat writing. Lance really should be taking notes, especially since English isn’t his best subject. Oh well. He can just take a picture of the notes with his phone.

Class ends early again and everyone packs up to leave. Lance sees Keith go up to Shiro but couldn’t really hear what he said with everyone else in the class talking amongst each other. Whatever it was, it was short because Shiro just nods his head before Keith heads back to his desk to pack up.

Lance is still curious about how those two know each other. They weren’t… together, were they? Or maybe Keith had a crush on Shiro? That would mean that Keith liked guys then. Shiro was rather attractive after all.

Lance shakes his head. Maybe he’s reading too much into things again. For all he knew, they could be just friends. He could ask Shiro, but that would be an invasion of Keith’s privacy, and Lance didn’t want to breach that.

Keith is still packing up as Lance left the class. He would’ve liked to wait for Keith to just watch him walk ahead of him, but that would be weird and kinda stalkerish. He’s walking down the stairs when his phone rings. Lance takes it out and sees that his mom is calling.

He answers, “Hello? Ma?”

“Lance,” says his mother on the phone, “did you get out of class just now?”

“Yeah, did you need something?” His mother usually wouldn’t call if she needed to tell him something. She’d usually wait until he got home. She must’ve needed him to pick up something.

“Yes, I need you to go pick up a few things from the grocery store,” as she list the items, Lance sees Keith coming down the stairs. Lance then realized that he had slowed down on his walk down the stairs enough for Keith to catch up. “Did you get all that, Lance?”

“Y-yeah,” Lance breathes, “Okay, I’ll be home soon with everything. Bye.”

 Lance rushes down the stairs, one part of his mind saying it’s so he can make it to the store in time before closing, while the other, more smitten part is saying that he has plenty of time before the store closes, he just wants to see Keith.

But he doesn’t see him at all. Keith must have gone to the bathroom or went a different route entirely. Trying not to feel disappointed, Lance’s pace slows to a stride as he walks towards the direction of his car.

 

-

 

By early-October, Lance is starting to feel the pressure of studying and completing his assignments on time. Thanksgiving break just could not come fast enough. He thinks about organizing a little get-together with Hunk and Pidge at his house as a sort of break from school. Hunk could definitely use a break from his classes. Let’s see, what was he taking again? Trigonometry, Chemistry, some world history class, Computer Science…

So, while Lance is in English class, he’s texting Hunk and Pidge about setting up a good date and time for their get-together. There’s something about English class that has Lance very distracted from the class lecture.

 

_Lance: can this weekend work?_

_Pidge: yeah. What about Saturday?_

_Hunk: yeah, Saturday works for me. What about you Lance?_

_Lance: Saturday it is!!_

_Pidge: can it be in the afternoon? I tend to sleep in pretty late on the weekends_

_Lance: sure that’ll be fine_

Lance puts his phone away and turns his attention back to the front of the class. He can’t help feeling kind of bad for being on his phone in class, especially with a teacher as cool as Shiro.

He glances at the back of Keith’s head for a second. He appears to have his head propped on his hand. Maybe he’s bored? Or listening intently to the lecture?

When class is dismissed, Lance still watches Keith, and he notices that something doesn’t seem right. First, Keith doesn’t walk up and talk to Shiro like he usually does. Probably because several other students walked up to him to ask him some questions. Second, Keith seemed to be… unsteady as he walks. He heads towards a different set of stairs than he usually goes to, and Lance decides to follow him.

When they make it outside of the building, Keith slumps against the wall until he slides all the way down on the ground. Lance can hear his shallow breathing.

He tries to approach him slowly without startling him. “Hey,” he says softly, “are you feeling okay?”

Keith tries to level out his breathing and swallows, “Y-yeah, just, uh,” he looks away from Lance, “I’m okay.”

But Lance is not buying it, “You’re clearly  _not_ okay,” he closes the distance between them and moves Keith’s arm over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to help you by picking you up and taking you home,” Lance is able to get Keith standing to his feet and starts walking towards the parking lot. All the while, Keith protests, but Lance insists that he should at least take him home. He was most likely in no shape to be driving his motorcycle.

They make it to Lance’s car and Lance helps Keith into the passenger seat. When Lance settles into the driver’s seat, he takes out his phone and to open a map, “Okay, what’s your address?” Seeing as there is no arguing with Lance, Keith gives the address and soon, they are driving away.

As Lance is driving, he’s constantly looking between the road and Keith’s form. Keith has his head resting against the seat with his eyes closed, his shallow breathing returning. After a few minutes, without opening his eyes, Keith says, “I’m not dying, Lance. Focus on the road.”

God, was it that obvious? Lance forces his eyes ahead of him, “I-I’m just worried about you. You look a little pale, dude.”

“I’ll be fine,” Keith mumbles.

They drive in silence until Lance makes it to their destination. He drives through an apartment complex parking lot, looking for the visitor’s spaces. When he finds them, Lance parks and gets out of the car, running to the other side to help Keith out of the car.

“Can you walk?”

Keith hesitantly steps out of the car. He’s shaky but he can stand.

“I can make it to my apartment from here. Thanks,” Keith smiles.

“Okay,” Lance carefully places a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “you should probably rest up and get better.” Keith nods his head.

Lance remains by his car as he watches Keith walk towards his apartment door. Once Keith is inside and closes the door, Lance steps back into the car and drives home.

 

-

 

Lance debated whether or not to tell Hunk about what happened after class with Keith. In the end, he decides against it. For now, he wants to focus on just relaxing and hanging out with his friends.

He and Hunk are in his car driving up to Pidge’s house. When they pull up, Lance honks the horn a couple times, “Pidgeyyyy!” He calls out.

In a couple of minutes, Pidge comes out of the front door, holding their laptop in their arms. They take a seat in the back of Lance’s car, “Geez, Lance. Don’t you ever clean up in here?”

“I’m getting around to it,” Lance drives away in the direction of his house, “So how’s Garrison treating ya?”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Pidge adjust their glasses, “At least their robotics club is good.”

“How is the club doing?” Hunk turns in his seat on the passenger side to face Pidge.

“Everyone says they miss you, Hunk,” says Pidge, “but I think they miss your baking the most.”

The group keeps talking about this or that on the way to Lance’s house. When they make it to their destination, they all get out of the car and walk inside.

“Ma! My friends are here!” Lance calls out.

Lance’s mother steps out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a washcloth, “Lance, did you remember to clean your room before inviting your friends over?”

“Yes, Maaa,” Lance whines.

The woman laughs and pinches Lance’s cheek, “I’m just joking, Lance.”

“Anyway,” Lance rubs at his cheek, “do you guys want anything? We got some juice pouches.”

And so, the group head upstairs for Lance’s room, juice in hand. As soon as Lance opens the door, he flings himself onto the bed and stretches his limbs.

“Make yourselves comfortable, guys,” says Lance. Hunk takes a seat at Lance’s desk in the comfortable chair while Pidge sits on Lance’s bed.

They continue to talk about whatever is on their minds, topics mainly consisting of school.

“The only thing I miss about high school is the school dances,” Lance says as he takes a sip from his now empty juice pouch.

“That’s only like two high school dances compared to about, what, one hundred college parties?” Pidge doesn’t even look up from their laptop screen.

“Yeah, but,” Lance sits up on his bed, crossing his legs, “those school dances always have these cool themes.”

“What’s so cool about ‘Under the Sea’?”

Lance gasps, “What  _isn’t_ cool about an underwater theme? I’ll admit, the party decorations could’ve been better, and they could’ve used some inflatable dolphins.”

“Weren’t you crowned Homecoming King for that school dance?” Pidge finally looks up from their laptop to look at Lance with an unimpressed pout.

“Yes, I was,” Lance leans back with a big grin on his face, “As soon as I heard about the theme, I knew I had to run for Homecoming royalty.”

“But don’t they reveal the theme  _after_ the signups?” Hunk asks. Then he gasps, “Unless… you found out beforehand!”

Lance lifts a finger to his lips and winks, “I had my sources.”

“Anyway,” Pidge adjusts their glasses, “If you’re curious about this year’s theme, the schools doing a Halloween theme this year.”

“ _Another_  Halloween theme?” whines Lance.

“Yeah, but they say it’s gonna be different from the previous Halloween themes,” Pidge takes a sip of their juice.

“How different?” Lance asks, his interest waning.

“Apparently, it’s a ‘Vampires vs Werewolves’ theme.”

Lance scoffs, “That’s such an old theme, though. The era of Twilight has passed.” Lance says dramatically. He falls back onto the bed.

“Vampires are real, though,” blurts Pidge.

“What?! Vampires are real?!” Hunk nearly jumps out of his seat.

“Okay, you’re insane,” says Lance.

“I’m serious,” Pidge scowls, “I’ve done some research and I found several isolated cases of vampire attacks. The most famous one was in the UK where almost an entire family was murdered.”

“Oh no,” says Hunk.

“Exactly,” Pidge continues, “but there was only one survivor. All I could uncover is that they’re female. No name, age, or anything.”

“Okay, but what makes you so sure it was vampires?” Lance is still skeptical.

“Just a quick look at some of the bodies will prove it was vampires.”

“Are you talking about the bite marks?” Hunk asks nervously.

“Yes,” Pidge confirms, “and according to their autopsy reports, nearly all of them were drained of blood.”

“Okay, I’ll admit,” Lance sits up and crosses his arms, “that’s really freaky.”

“ _But_ , there hasn’t been any  _reported_  vampire attacks in the last ten years.”

“What do you mean by ‘reported’?” Lance lifts a brow.

Pidge grins while putting a finger over the bridge of their glasses, pushing them up a little, “Vampires are usually very sneaky about how they take their blood. The reports you hear about are actually from vampires who haven’t had blood in a long time and are very sloppy about getting their blood meal, as their powers of sneaking have been significantly weakened.”

Pidge continues, “I couldn’t really find any information about what those powers are, but I’ve noticed some behavior patterns. First, a vampire physically traps their victim, usually from behind. There are some theories suggesting that vampires use their voice to sort of ‘seduce’ their victim into doing whatever the vampire says, like hypnosis.”

“And then, the vampire takes the bite.”

“Wow, okay,” Lance settles his hands on his hips and leans over Pidge, “Where did you even  _get_ all that information?”

“My sources are secret,” Pidge closes their laptop, “But it sure isn’t Wikipedia.”

“Okay, so you say vampires are real,” says Hunk, “but what about werewolves. Are they, like, real too?”

“I haven’t done any research about werewolves, so I wouldn’t know,” Pidge shrugs.

“Also,” Lance narrows his eyes suspiciously, “what made you research into vampires so thoroughly?”

Pidge smiles smugly at him, “You could say it’s for the spirit of Halloween.”

 

-

 

The ticking of the clock hanging in the breakroom wall echoes in Keith’s head. He tries to focus on that instead of the sounds of hearts pumping from the people in the breakroom with him. He’s still trying to figure a work around the bag checks. He was successful in sticking his supplies in his jacket and was able to stock up a little that way, but body checks were implemented, so he hasn’t been able to take what he needed for about a month. As a result, Keith has been experiencing withdrawal for two weeks now.

From the corner of his eye, Keith sees Allura walk into the breakroom and look into the cubies for her purse. “I’m heading home now, everyone.”

“Have you been checked yet, Allura?” says one of the supervisors sitting at the break table.

“No, not yet,” she hands her purse to him.

“Nurse, can you body check Allura?” the supervisor starts looking into the purse. The nurse stands up and starts body checking Allura.

After a few seconds, both checks have been done and Allura has her purse back, “Oh, can I have someone accompany me before my friend comes to pick me up. I got a message from her saying she’ll be a bit late.”

“Oh, of course Allura!” the supervisor looks around the room and his eyes land on Keith, “Keith, can you escort Miss Allura?”

Keith stands up from his seat, “Okay. Let’s go, Allura.”

After he receives a quick body check, Keith leads the way outside while Allura waves everyone goodnight. All the while, he wonders why Allura is so bright and cheerful towards everyone else and not him. They never really talked but Keith knows that Allura has grown suspicious of him. He just hopes it’s not what he thinks it is.

They make it outside where it’s been raining lightly. Allura steps out of cover to lift a hand to feel the raindrops. Keith looks around for any cars that might be Allura’s friend.

“You’re not sick, are you?”

Keith is somewhat startled and turns to look at Allura. She’s still looking up at the sky.

“No, do I look sick?”

She lets her hand drop to her side and then turns to look at him, “You just look a bit pale.”

“Well, I haven’t been eating much, so it must be from that,” which is sort of true. Keith has been, in a sense, “malnourished”.

“Hmm,” Allura looks out ahead of her. They stand there in silence for a few moments. Keith tries to focus on the soft sound of the rain instead of Allura’s heartbeat. How it must be pumping warm blood throughout her body.

He looks around the area. Could… could this be the opportunity he needed? This certainly wouldn’t be the first time taking directly from the source. Keith can feel his fangs slowly coming out at the possibility. All he has to do is-

“Are you going to do anything for Halloween?”

Keith snaps out of his thoughts and finds Allura looking at him again. He feigns thinking as he tries to control his fangs from elongating any further. “I don’t know,” he crosses his arms, “I don’t really celebrate Halloween. What about you?”

Allura cocks her head, “I think I might dress up and go to a Halloween party.” She pauses and eyes him carefully, “I’m thinking about going as a vampire.”

“Well,” Keith scrambles for what to say, “I would’ve thought you would go as a witch. You know, with the hat.” Allura just stares at him. “B-but if you wanna go as a vampire, that’s fine too.”

Allura sighs, “Personally, I find vampires to be  _much_  scarier than witches. Do you want to know why?” She takes a half a step closer to Keith and doesn’t even wait for an answer, “Because out of all the supernatural monsters, vampires are the only ones that attack humans while  _looking_ human themselves.”

“Well,” Keith tries not to take a step back, “It’s a good thing they aren’t real then.”

They remain silent for another few moments. Soon, a car pulls up in front of the hospital entrance and beeps.

“My friend is here,” Allura adjusts the strap of her purse on her shoulder. She turns to Keith, “Have a nice night, Keith.”

Keith watches as Allura walks down the steps and towards the car. Once she’s inside, Keith walks back into the building. On his way back to the breakroom, he sees a drinking fountain. He knows that drinking water won’t satisfy his thirst but Keith tries anyway.

He pushes the button and an arch of water flows out of the spout. He leans forward, taking long sips of water, feeling the cool fresh liquid flow down his throat. When he’s done, he stands back up, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, and continues walking. While it was quite refreshing, Keith’s thirst remains.

 

-

 

He knows he probably shouldn’t be doing this. Hell, he  _knows_ there’s a possibility of being caught by campus police who are patrolling the campus right now. But things aren’t looking good for him. All Keith needs is a quick meal and he’ll be good for about a week. Anything to get the sounds of people’s pumping hearts from getting any louder in his head.

Keith goes a different route instead of heading to class. He’s thinking about maybe hiding in the bathroom until someone comes in. But he would prefer an area without so much light…

He hears the faint sound of a heartbeat coming closer. Great. Keith goes around a corner and waits. The sound is coming even closer. Almost there. Keith doesn’t even stop his fangs from elongating to their full length. Just a few more steps and-

“Keith? What are you doing here? I told you to stay home and rest.”

That voice. No, it can’t be. Why does it have to be him?

Keith tries to retract his fangs but they won’t go back all the way. Whatever, he just hopes its dark enough that it won’t be noticeable.

“Keith,” Lance appears from around the corner, “I was on my way to class and I saw you out here. Are you feeling better?”

“How did you even see me?” Keith would have known if someone was nearby.

“I’d recognize that mullet from a mile away,” Lance puts a hand on Keith’s forehead and frowns, “You certainly don’t have a fever. But you still don’t look so good! Here, I’m taking you home.”

“Lance, you really don’t have t-”

“No, I want to. And besides, I, uh…” Keith notices the increase in Lance’s heartrate, “Nevermind. Let’s go.”

Lance takes Keith by the hand and drags him away. Lance’s heartrate still hasn’t slowed down.

 

-

 

Lance doesn’t know why he keeps doing this. He tells himself he’s doing it because he’s a good person. Keith protested like last time, saying that he’ll be fine. But even Lance can see that Keith has gotten a bit worse. The bags under his eyes are more prominent against his pale skin. And while they were in the car, Lance could hear Keith’s shallow breathing again.

When they make it to Keith’s address, Lance wonders if Keith can even make it to the door this time. “What’s your door number?”

Keith just looks at Lance for a couple of breaths and finally says, “Door 15.”

So Lance slings Keith’s arm over his shoulder and helps him walk to his door. Let’s see… 12… 13… 14… 15! Lance tries the knob but sees that it’s locked.

“Do you have your keys on you?”

Keith reaches into his pocket with his other arm and digs out a singular key. Lance takes it and slides the key into the keyhole. Once he hears the ‘click’, he turns the knob again and finally opens the door.

Lance closes the door with his foot and brings Keith to a nearby couch. “Do you need anything?”

Keith just looks Lance up and down and swallows. If Lance payed closer attention, he would see how dazed Keith looked. “Thirsty,” says Keith, his voice hoarse.

Lance nods and looks around for a kitchen in the dark. When he finds it, he starts searching for a light switch. When he finds that, he flicks the lights on in the kitchen, causing Keith to lightly hiss from the living room. Lance sighs to himself. Poor Keith. He probably has a migraine.

Lance spots a cup from a neat pile of dishes and fills it with water from the tap. He quickly walks back to Keith who has been lying on the couch, arm draped over his eyes.

“Here, I got you some water,” Lance stretches out his arm for Keith to take the cup. Keith removes his arm from his eyes and sits up. He looks back and forth between Lance and the cup. And then suddenly, he smacks the cup out of Lance’s hands, sending it flying across the living room.

“Keith!” Lance looks to where the cup might have landed. “Keith, what the hell!” He turns back to look at Keith on the couch, except that Keith isn’t there anymore.

“Keith?” Lance looks around when a sudden pair of hands grab him, pulling him back until he’s flush against what feels like another body.

 

_First, a vampire physically traps their victim, usually from behind._

Lance looks down at the hands on him and sees the familiar fingerless gloves. One hand is on his chest while the other is on his abdomen.

“Keith? What are you-”

“Shhhh,” Lance feels Keith’s hot breath against his ear, causing him to shiver. He hears him take a big inhale through his nose and exhale out his mouth, “You smell… so good…”

 

_There are some theories suggesting that vampires use their voice to sort of ‘seduce’ their victim into doing whatever the vampire says, like hypnosis._

The voice that came out of Keith was him, and not him at the same time. It was still Keith’s voice, but uncharacteristically soothing. Like his voice was made of velvet.

“Keith, I- eep!” Lance feels something warm and wet glide across the side of his neck. Is Keith… licking him?

 

_And then, the vampire takes the bite._

Lance didn’t get a chance to brace himself as he feels a sudden sharp pain emanating from his neck. He can’t see (though it’s probably for the best that he can’t) but Lance hears soft, wet slurping sounds. No way… Keith is…

Lance can’t even scream. He should get away, but he’s too afraid to move. Oh god, is he going to die here? Tears form around his eyes at the thought and the pain. He lets out a chocked sob.

And then, the pain stops, the hands that were holding Lance are gone, and Lance’s legs give out under him. His hand flies to where Keith’s mouth was a moment ago. His neck feels damp, with saliva or… something else. But he can definitely feel puncture holes.

With a deep breath, Lance forces himself to look behind him. He sees Keith leaning against the wall, arms braced on his sides. He’s staring at Lance with wide eyes.

They just look at each other for a few moments, like neither of them could believe what just happened and are too afraid to move. Finally, Keith turns his head sharply away from the other boy.

“Get out of here.”

“Huh?”

“I said get out of here!”

Startled, Lance scrambles to his feet and runs out of the apartment. He runs as fast as his legs can carry him to his car.

 

-

 

Lance doesn’t even remember how he made it back to his house. He barely registers stepping out of his car and walking to the front door of his house. He has no recollection of greeting his mom before going to the bathroom. All he can focus on is the event that transpired just a few minutes ago.

Keith bit Lance.

Lance flicks the light on in the bathroom and closes the door behind him. With shaky fingers, he pulls the collar of his green jacket and blue baseball tee. Sure enough, there are two holes where his neck meets shoulder.

Fresh blood seeps out of the wounds and Lance notices the stains on his shirt. Great. Hopefully his mom won’t bother him too much about it.

Lance opens the sink cabinets and pulls out the first aid kit. He finds the bigger bandages and sets one aside. First, he should try to clean up the bite. He spends the next couple minutes cleaning around the wounds with sterile cleaning wipes and applying one of the big bandages.

He finishes up by brushing his teeth before leaving the bathroom. He changes out of his clothes for his pajamas and puts his jacket and shirt in the hamper with the rest of the dirty laundry.

Lance doesn’t fall asleep until his exhaustion forces him to.

 

-

 

It surprises Lance that he can somehow act like nothing happened when he comes to class. He would like to rule the whole thing as some bad dream, but the fresh bandage he applied earlier that afternoon reminds him how real it is.

How Keith isn’t human.

How Keith is possibly a vampire…

Which made sense why Keith wasn’t looking well. He had needed blood. Lance thinks back to when he saw Keith go a different way that led him to find him sidling against the wall around a corner. Had he been planning to attack someone? Okay, maybe “attack” wasn’t the right word.

Lance snaps to attention when Shiro enters the classroom, preparing to take attendance. He glances at the seat where Keith usually sits only to find it empty. Lance frowns.

Class goes on as usual. Throughout the whole lecture though, Lance has been debating whether or not to tell Hunk about what happened, picking up his phone to start a text only to erase it and put his phone back down on his desk.

Maybe he should talk to Keith about it. Maybe he’s wrong about the whole thing somehow. If not, he should at least ask if Keith’s feeling better because of it. Lance almost laughs to himself. Here he is, a bandage on his neck, and he’s thinking about Keith’s well-being instead of being afraid of seeing him again.

Shiro dismisses class and Lance hurries to put his things away. He doesn’t have Keith’s number or anything. He thinks about going to his apartment and see if he’s there.

By the time he makes it all the way down the stairs, Lance hears that melodious voice he heard just days ago. Turning sharply, he sees Keith leaning against the wall farther up ahead. He’s looking directly at Lance and Lance had to suppress a swallow as he slowly approaches the other boy.

“Hey man,” Lance tries to be casual, “Are you feeling better?”

Keith’s eyes widen and looks away. “I… Yeah.”

“That’s good.”

A beat of silence followed. Lance can see Keith shifting uncomfortable from one foot to the other.

“Listen, I…” Keith starts, “I’m really sorry about what happened… last time. I…”

“Hey, I get it,” says Lance, “Or, at least I think I get it. You weren’t feeling good. Probably because you needed… well.” He pulls at his hoodie to show the bandage and lets the thought hang in the air. He didn’t need to say it because they both understand what it means.

Keith sighs, “Yeah.” He tries to make eye contact again but looks down at his feet instead, “I’ll understand if you want to stay far away from me from now on.”

“What?” Lance lets out a breathy laugh, “I mean, I know you sorta took my blood, but that doesn’t mean I think you’re a monster or something. It’s kinda cool actually.”

Keith looks at him again and scowls, “It’s  _cool_? You think the fact that I have to drink people’s blood to survive is  _cool?_ ”

Now it’s Lance’s turn to scowl back, “It’s not like you’ve killed someone over it. You’re not that kind of person.”

“We haven’t seen each other in a year. How do  _you_ know what kind of person I am?”

Their argument could have become more heated if Shiro hadn’t come down the stairs.

“Keith, I was wondering where you were.” He looks between him and Lance, “Is everything alright?”

Keith sighs. He turns to Lance and says, “Show him.”

It takes a second for Lance to understand what he means. He pulls at his hoodie again to reveal the large bandage. He notices Shiro’s eyes growing wide.

After a second, his demeanor turns serious as he turns back up the stairs and says, “Come to my office, quickly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [my twitter!!](http://twitter.com/takybastard)


	3. Painful Memories 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding out that Keith's a vampire, Lance is even more curious about his high school crush.

Lance fidgets as he sits in Shiro’s office, one of his legs bouncing. Keith on the other hand is stock still, sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed. Shiro’s been busy putting papers away in folders. He finally glances behind him after shoving a folder on a shelf and heaves a large sigh. He sits in his big chair and scoots himself forward into his desk, placing both elbows on the desk and tucking his hands under his chin.

“You probably have questions.”

Lance looks up at him and then glances at Keith. He lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and says, “Uh, yeah. But, I’m wondering about, uh, how do you two know each other?”

Shiro didn’t seem to be expecting that as his eyes widen a fraction. Keith’s head snaps up to finally look at Lance.

Shiro lets out an amused chuckle, “Well, we’re brothers. Not biologically, but we’re practically family to each other.” He lets his gaze fall on Keith, a smile spreading across his face.

“Ohhhh, okay,” Lance breathes, his reaction almost comical with the way he purses his lips as he considers this new piece of information, “That explains why you guys look real familiar with each other.”

“Yes,” Shiro leans back in his chair, posture more relaxed, “My parents adopted him when he was twelve. I’ve known about him being a vampire about a year later.”

Lance sits up in his seat. Right. Keith’s a vampire. Even as Shiro said that out loud, it still didn’t seem real. Lance unconsciously reaches up to feel the bandage only to pull his hand away.

“Or part-vampire, at least.”

Lance whips his head to look at Keith and then at Shiro, “Waitwaitwait. Did you say ‘part-vampire’? As in, he’s not 100% vampire?”

“That’s right,” Shiro nods his head, “We don’t know how much of a vampire he is, but we’re suspecting at most 50%.”

Turning to Keith, Lance whispers, “How did you do it? In high school, I mean. It’s usually very sunny around here year-round and, well, even if you’re not full vampire, sunlight must not feel very pleasant, so…”

Keith sighs before answering, “I just wore a bunch of sunblock and clothing that covered most of my body,” he finally looks at Lance, “it’s why I always wore jackets and hoodies.”

Lance remembers. He remembers teasing Keith about it on particularly hot days. God, does he feel bad now. “I didn’t know,” he murmurs more to himself. Keith just shrugs his shoulders as he leans back in his chair.

“Well, now that you know about… this whole thing,” Shiro gestures vaguely, “We are now wondering what you’re going to do now.”

Lance’s brows furrow in thought. Have they gone through this before with other people? It almost seems like a procedure with the way Shiro is leading the whole discussion. Finally, he answers, “Well, I’ll tell you what I’m not gonna do. I’m not gonna tell the cops or report this or anything. I’ll keep it a secret.”

Shiro looks slightly relieved, “That’s good. And I want to trust that.”

“You can,” Lance says a little too loudly, “I don’t want anything to happen to Keith. I mean, I even took him home the two times he looked sick.”

“Oh, so  _you’re_  the mysterious student who helped my little brother,” there’s a teasing glint in Shiro’s eyes. He turns to Keith, his voice gave way to even more teasing, “Keith, why didn’t you tell me it was him?”

Keith’s only answer is a groan as he drags both hands down across his face.

 

-

 

That weekend felt almost too normal to Lance as he plays an MMORPG game with Hunk and Pidge, talking in an audio group chat as they raid dungeons together.

“ _Are we really spending our Halloween playing this game_?” Pidge’s voice echoes in Lance’s headphones.

“I mean, you can leave if you’re not having fun,” Lance replies as his character shoots a magic arrow at one of the enemy beasts. “Also, it’s not really Halloween yet. There’s still a couple days left until then, Pidgey.”

“ _Right, right. Of course,”_  Lance decides to ignore the sarcasm.

“ _Hey Pidge, I could really use some healing right about now,_ ” says Hunk.

“ _On it._ ”

They eventually get to the room before the boss of the dungeon. Lance begins to prep his items as well as his magic slots.

“Okay, is everyone ready?” Lance speaks into his mic.

“ _Totally! Let_ _’_ _s do this!_ ” Hunk says excitedly.

“ _Might as well,_ ” says Pidge, but Lance can practically hear the grin in their voice.

They enter the boss room and a cutscene plays. Lance takes it as an opportunity to stretch a little and take a sip of his lime soda, which has flattened out by now. The boss finally appears behind a flutter of bats, wearing a long black cape with long pointed fangs protruding from his mouth. Lance squints at the screen as the health bar and boss’s name materialize.

_Dracula: Lord of the Vampires_

Oh boy.

Lance had forgotten about the vampire boss being part of the game’s special Halloween dungeons. As he’s fighting him, Lance thinks about Keith of all things. What does Keith think of all the vampire stuff in pop culture? Would he laugh like Hunk and Pidge are about how cheesy the boss looks and sounds, repeating the same lines over and over again with that godawful accent?

He must have been too deep in thought as he hears Hunk say into his headphones, “ _Hey man, are you still there? You_ _’ve been quiet for a long time._ ”

Lance tries to laugh it off, “Yeah, I was just thinking…”

“ _About what?_ ”

“About Keith-” Lance interrupts himself, his eyes widening. He did not just say that.

“ _Who?_ ” Oh right. Pidge never officially met Keith.

“ _Aww. Thinking about your crush?_ ” Hunk coos.

 “ _Who_ _’s Keith?_ ” repeats Pidge.

“ _He_ _’s this guy that was_ _‘rivals_ _’ with Lance in junior year. So, before you even came to the Garrison,_ ” explains Hunk.

“ _Ah, I see_ ,” Lance can almost picture Pidge adjusting their glasses at that new information.

“ _Anyway, we_ _’re in the middle of a boss battle, dude. What could possibly make you think about Keith right now?_ ”

“Well,” Lance stalls, “I was just thinking, uh, you know, if it would be cool if – just hypothetically thinking here – if Keith would ever, uh, play this game with us?” He almost says the last part too fast.

A beat of silence follows before Hunk finally chimes in, “ _Has your crush on Keith taken over your life or something? Not that it_ _’s a bad thing but if you think about him so much, why haven_ _’t you made a move yet?_ ”

Lance laughs nervously, “Yeah, about that. I, uh, already sorta started talking to him.”

“ _What?! No way! And you didn_ _’t tell me? Your best friend?_ ” They finish defeating Dracula and gain the loot and some experience. Hunk’s character goes up to Lance’s and does a dramatic pointing pose as Hunk says, “ _You! Are going to tell me all about it after we log off._ ”

“Alright, alright,” Lance gives in.

“ _Might as well be right now,_ ” says Pidge, “ _While it has been fun, I got some stuff to do. I_ _’ll talk to you guys later_.” The friends exchange their goodbyes as Pidge logs out the voice chat and the game.

No sooner had Lance started logging out of the game, Hunk starts firing a million questions, “ _Okay, how did it all start? Are you guys technically friends now? Since you guys share a class together, do you guys sit next to each other now? Have you exchanged phone numbers yet? Have y-_ ”

“Whoa, okay slow down there buddy,” says Lance, “To answer some of your questions, no we don’t sit next to each other, I don’t have his number, and maybe we’re friends? I don’t know, it feels more like we’re acquaintances.”

“ _That_ _’s a good start!_ ” Lance can tell that Hunk’s starting to get excited, “ _Okay, but how did it all start? How did you guys start talking to each other?_ ”

“Uh,” Lance tries to think of a way not to reveal a whole lot of information, “Okay, well, it was last Wednesday in class when I noticed that he didn’t look so good. It turned out he was sick so I took him home that ti-”

“ _Wait, you went to his place?!_ ”

“ _Only_  because I was worried about him. I didn’t think it was safe for him to go on his motorcycle. That’s all!” Lance didn’t appreciate the way his voice cracked at the end. He clears his throat, “Anyway, he ended up coming to class on Monday and he looked even worse, so I took him home again. He came back this Wednesday to thank me.”

Hunk hums, causing Lance’s headphones to vibrate a little, “ _Did he really get better in just a day?_ ”

“Uh,” Shit. “I don’t know man, he might’ve still been a little sick when he thanked me. You know, most people probably get better with a full day of rest.”

The silence on the other end has Lance sweating a little in his seat. Is that not believable? Lance nearly jumps out of his seat when Hunk finally answers. “ _Yeah, that makes sense_.”

Lance internally breathes a sigh of relief, “Yeah, anyway, we really didn’t talk all that much.”

“ _But still, you talked to him and even went to his place. It_ _’d be cool if you guys started hanging out._ ”

Lance thinks back to when he had that discussion with Keith and Shiro in Shiro’s office. He had said that he promised to keep the whole thing a secret. They could trust his word, right? Would they check up on him to make sure he hadn’t said anything? Or was this whole situation done and dealt with and Lance could move on with his life, never to interact with Keith again? Lance frowned at the thought. He still had some questions to ask about it, about Keith.

“Yeah, it would be,” he says.

Hunk seemed to have detected the disappointment in his voice, “ _C_ _’mon man. All you have to do is just go up to him and start talking to him. Get to know him, y_ _’know_.”

Lance lets out a snort.

“ _Hey, I just think that it_ _’s a sign from the universe that you get to see Keith again, and in your class no less. I say take this opportunity before you lose it._ ”

Lance leans back in his chair. Was it really fate that decided to bring Keith back into Lance’s life? Don’t get him wrong, he was sorta glad to see him again. But the fact that he’s crushing on him complicates things. Even more so now that he knows what Keith is.

“Alright,” Lance gives in, “I’ll… think of something.”

“ _Go get_ _‘em, Lance._ ”

 

-

 

Lance has no idea what he’s doing. He stops dead in his tracks the moment he walked through the door to class when he sees Keith sitting at his desk, writing something into his notebook. He’s arrived a lot earlier than he usually does, so there’s not a lot of people seated to witness Lance gaping at the door like an idiot. Gripping his backpack tighter, he makes the brisk walk to the front of the class and takes a seat in the desk next to Keith’s.

Keith didn’t seem to expect anyone to come near him, least of all Lance. Lance turns to face him and notices Keith’s upturned eyebrow.

“Uh, this seat isn’t taken, is it?”

Keith’s eyes fall onto the desk and then back up at Lance’s face, “No. No one usually sits there.”

“Oh,” Lance breathes, “Ok, cool.”

The class is too silent and Lance is anxious to talk to Keith about, well, him. So Lance plays on his phone until more students come in the classroom. Once the chatter starts to rise, Lance leans in towards Keith’s desk. Whatever Lance was going to say is soon forgotten when he glances down at Keith’s notebook and sees that Keith wasn’t actually writing, but doodling.

Keith’s arm conveniently blocks his view as Keith turns to face him. Lance tries to find his voice, “So, uh, I was wondering about, you know…” Lance reaches up to rub at his neck where the bandage is. Lance makes a show of darting his eyes at it.

Keith sighs, “Yeah? What about it?”

“Well,” Lance finds it difficult to look him in the eyes so he settles on looking at his nose, “I was just curious about how it all works.”

Keith scowls as he considers his words.

“You don’t have to tell me right now,” Lance adds quickly, “It can be after class or maybe some other time whenever you’re free.”

Before Keith gets a chance to answer, Shiro is already walking to the front of the class. The chatter stops as Shiro takes out his roll call list for attendance. As he turns to face everyone, he spots Lance sitting in front next to Keith. He lets a smile grace his lips.

 

-

 

When class ends, Lance doesn’t take his time to pack up. He wants to make sure he has some time to talk to Keith before it gets really late and his parents start wondering why he isn’t home yet. Lance remains standing by Keith’s seat, waiting patiently for Keith to finish packing. When he’s done, Keith stands and starts heading for the door, Lance following close behind.

“So what exactly are you so curious about?” says Keith as both boys make their way down the stairs.

“A couple things, actually,” says Lance, “Like, do you have any special powers?”

Keith snorts. After a brief pause, he answers, “Yeah, I do.”

Lance gasps in awe, “Really?! What are they? What can you do? Can you show me?”

A laugh slips out of Keith which sounds amazing to Lance’s ears. They make it all the way down to the grassy area. Keith slows to a stop and sits on one of the benches. Lance takes a seat next to him.

“Well, I can travel pretty fast.”

“Ooh, can I see?”

Keith takes a tentative look around the area before standing up, leaving his own book bag on the bench. And then, right before Lance eyes, Keith flashes from standing in front of the bench, to the other side of the grass area several yards away. Lance nearly falls out of his seat on the bench. He can see Keith laughing. He must be having fun. In another flash, Keith is back to standing in front of Lance, smile still on his face. Lance can feel a surge of wind hit him.

“Dude!” Lance nearly yells. Then he remembers where they are and says in a hush, “You can practically teleport!”

Keith seems embarrassed when he laughs a little nervously as he tangles his hand into his hair. “I mean, I guess.”

“What else can you do?”

Keith sits back down on the bench, “The only other power I have is… kind of hard to explain.” He thinks for a moment. And then says, “Take out your phone.”

Lance raises both eyebrows and then furrows them, “What? Uh, okay.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it.

“Pull up that picture you took of me.”

Lance panics, “What? What’re you talking about?”

“Lance, I know you took a picture while pretending to take some selfie that one night,” Keith recalls, “Here, try opening a chat history and you’ll see what I mean. Make sure I can’t see it.”

Lance does as he’s told and opens up his text messages he exchanged with Hunk.

“While you look at it, I’m going to tell you what it says.”

“Wait, what?”

But Keith doesn’t wait and starts talking again, “The top says ‘Hunk’ with the top message from them saying ‘ _hey, wanna play phantasma tonight with pidge?_ ’”

Lance can’t believe it. Keith is practically reading the whole conversation as if he’s actually looking at it. His eyes are wide as he stares at his phone screen, following along as Keith gets every word and emoji right.

Finally, when he’s done, Lance just stares at Keith, “How did you do that?”

“When I’m near someone,” Keith explains, “I can sorta look through their own eyes and see what they see. It’s the same with hearing.”

“Whoa,” Lance breathes.

“It’s harder to do when the person’s far away though.”

“Just… whoa.”

They fall silent as Lance takes the time to process the information. It made all the little details make sense. When Lance tried to sneak a picture of Keith’s hair, Keith had turned around like he knew what Lance was doing. When Lance took him home the first time, Keith knew he was looking at him despite having his eyes closed.

Which begs the question, “How often do you do it?”

“Huh?” Keith didn’t seem to be expecting that question.

“How often do you use that power? You know, the looking thing.”

Keith is silent for a moment, like he’s debating whether to say anything at all. Then he sighs and says, “I only do it when I think someone’s watching me. But I find myself doing it a lot when I’m… around you so…” Lance almost missed the faint blush tainting Keith’s cheeks.

“Are you doing it right now?” Lance finds himself asking.

“Uh, n-no, I haven’t done it in a while,” Keith mumbles.

Lance isn’t sure if Keith’s lying or not, but decides to drop the subject, “Okay, well, another thing I’ve been wondering about is the whole ‘being able to hear and smell shit’ thing. Like can you hear people’s heartbeats?”

Keith tips his head back, looking up at the cloudy night sky. Lance tries to focus on what he’s saying instead of the long column of Keith’s pale neck, “Yes and no. Like right now, I can faintly hear your heart, which is beating kinda fast right now.”

Lance flounders, “I-I’m just really taking the whole vampire thing in, ya know?”

Keith nods his head slightly, “But when I get the uh, withdrawal, it all gets louder. As for smelling, it’s pretty normal compared to everyone else, except, you know, when there’s blood around.” Lance nods his head as he considers this new information. “I can also see really well in the dark.”

“Makes sense,” says Lance. He checks the time on his phone and exhales. “I should get going.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Both boys gather their things and head in the direction of the parking lot. Lance points in the general direction of his car, “My car’s that way. What about you?”

Keith points in another direction, “I left my bike around there somewhere.”

They both stop. “Well,” says Lance, “I guess this is where we split up.”

“Yeah,” is all Keith says.

“So, I was wondering…”

“Yeah?”

Lance takes a deep breath and goes for it, “I was sorta hoping to, uh, get your…” Keith looks at him expectantly, “Uh, your number. You know to like text each other or whatever. But you can totally say no if you don’t want to.” Lance can’t help the babbling that comes out of his mouth.

But Keith is smiling and even laughs a little. “Sure. I’m fine with texting each other.” He takes his phone out and hands it to Lance to fill his contact information. Lance quickly fishes out his own phone and opens his contacts. They exchange phones and enter their numbers.

Lance is almost giddy when he gets his phone back and sees Keith’s information written there. “Okay!” He clears his throat and tries again, “Okay, I’ll be texting you.”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight, Keith.”

“Night, Lance.”

 

-

 

Lance lies in his bed awake the following Tuesday morning. With no classes today, he thinks about what he wants to do today. It’s finally Halloween day but he doesn’t have any plans until nightfall. His mind wanders to what Keith might be doing. Could he be sleeping? Technically he is a vampire, so he must be more active at night, which would explain why he takes night classes.

He reaches for his phone and opens a new message to send to Keith, except that now that it’s in front of him, Lance has no idea what to say. After some deliberation, he finally starts typing away his message and hits send.

 

-

 

Keith tosses and turns in his bed. It’s almost noon and he hasn’t been able to sleep. As he lays there defeated, he thinks about what he told Lance.

Or, what he didn’t tell Lance.

He had fun showing Lance his vampire powers, mostly out of watching his reactions. But he didn’t tell him about the  _other_ power he held. Part of him said it was because it would be difficult to show so he didn’t bother mentioning it. Another part said that the power was a bit too intimate to talk about and Keith didn’t want to freak Lance out, especially since he’s been doing it on him.

Keith turns to his side and clutches his pillow. Who knew Lance, of all people, would get involved in this mess?

His phone vibrates on the nightstand next to his bed. Finding that he’s not sleeping any time soon, Keith reaches for his phone. When he turns it on, he sees that it’s a text from Lance. Well, speak of the devil.

 

_Lance: I know ur only like half vampire but do u sleep during the day??_

Keith smiles to himself. Of course Lance would still be curious about his lifestyle. He starts typing a reply and sends it.

 

_Keith: ever since I got out of high school yeah_

Keith is surprised to see Lance typing right away. After a few seconds, another message pops up.

 

_Lance: oh sorry. didn_   _’t mean to wake u_

Keith just stares at the message. What should he say next? He decides to be honest and replies with:

 

_Keith: actually I couldn_   _’t sleep_

He puts his phone down and stretches his limbs, feeling the comfortable strain. Still not feeling sleepy, Keith sits up in his bed. Maybe he should drink some juice? As he thinks about it, his phone vibrates again.

 

_Lance: oh then do u wanna hang out?_

_Lance: I mean its pretty cloudy today so_

_Keith: sure that_   _’ll be cool_

_Keith: you can even come back to my apartment if you want_

_Lance: whoa really??_

_Keith: yeah I_   _’ll be here_

_Lance: ok, I_   _’ll be there soon_

Keith just stares at the conversation until the screen turns off. He feels a fluttery sensation in his chest. Lance is coming over.

Keith tries to calm his heart. Lance has been here twice already, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Although both those times were at night and the second time Keith bit Lance and possibly scared him away. But still it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Keith concludes that his nerves are just from the fact that he’s never had a guest over before. Yeah, that’s it.

Definitely unable to sleep now, Keith gets up and heads into the bathroom. He brushes his teeth and his hair so that he looks somewhat presentable.

By the time he takes out an apple juice from the fridge, he hears a soft knock on the door. As he approaches the door, Keith can faintly hear Lance whispering to himself, probably psyching himself up from the other side of the door.

“ _Okay okay. You can do this. This is Keith we_ _’re talking about. You can do this._ ”

Keith laughs to himself. He tries to muster up a neutral face when he turns the knob and swings open the door.

“Hey Kei-” Lance interrupts himself, eyes wide as he looks at the other boy. Keith notices Lance’s eyes are looking slightly lower from his face.

And then Keith realizes that he’s not wearing a shirt.

He clears his throat to get Lance’s attention, but mainly to get his blushing under control.

“You know I can hear you whispering right?”

It takes a couple seconds, but Lance finally blinks back to reality. “Oh, right. The whole vampire thing.” He looks past Keith, into the apartment, “Uh, can I come in?”

Keith steps back for Lance to enter. When he does, Keith closes the door behind him and starts heading back to the kitchen, “Do you want some juice?”

Seemingly not knowing what to do as he stands there, Lance follows Keith into the kitchen. “You still eat human food?”

Keith can’t help but scoff, “Yeah. I’m only like half vampire, Lance. I still eat food.” He pours the apple juice into a glass. “We have orange juice if you want.”

“We?”

Keith moves the glass in circular motions in his hand, watching the liquid swirl, “Yeah. Technically this is Shiro’s apartment. I just live with him.”

“Ohh,” breathes Lance. He looks around the apartment, “I guess he’s not here right now?”

“Mm,” Keith hums, “He’s at work right now. You know, being a college professor and all that.”

Silence fill between them as Keith drinks his juice in one fluid motion. When he’s done, he puts the glass in the sink and the juice back in the fridge.

“It’s kinda dark in here,” Lance moves back to the living room.

Keith follows the direction of his voice and finds Lance sitting on the couch. “Do you want me to let some light in?”

Lance shakes his head, “Nah, it’s fine. It’s really nice for mood lighting, hah.” He laughs nervously.

Keith goes to sit next to Lance but then remembers his half-dressed state. “Um, I should go put a shirt on. I’ll be right back.”

He doesn’t wait for Lance’s response as he heads back into his room. He quickly opens a drawer and pulls out a red t-shirt with a lion print in the front. He pulls it over his head and straightens it before heading back.

When he returns, Lance looks up from his phone and grins, “Geez, and right after I commented about the mood lighting.”

Keith just chuckles nervously as he finally takes a seat next to Lance. He sighs, “To be honest, I’ve never had anyone over before, so I have no idea what to do.”

“Hey, no worries,” says Lance, “I was, uh, hoping to ask about your parents.” When Keith raises his eyebrows at that, Lance clarifies, “Uh, I mean, like, your birth parents. Like, is your dad the vampire?”

“No, my mom is,” then Keith frowns, “Or  _was_.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I… don’t really remember my mom since she left when I was really young. But my dad was definitely human.”

“Oh wow,” Lance scratches his cheek, “I would’ve though your mom to be the human one since I read stories about half-vampires with human mothers.” He glances up at Keith, “Uh, sorry. I did some research about half-vampires when I went home the night you showed me your powers.”

“I would’ve been surprised if you  _didn_ _’t_ ,” Keith smiles.

They look at each other in silence for about a few seconds too long. Lance inhales, “Do your other parents know you’re a vampire?”

Keith looks away as he answers, “Yeah. Not as long as Shiro though.”

Lance opens his mouth to say something but closes it.

Keith heaves a sigh as he leans back on the couch, “They’re in Arizona right, so it’s not like I get to see them whenever I want.”

“But couldn’t you see them during the holidays? Arizona’s just a few hours away.”

Keith tips his head back as he says, “Yeah, I could.”

“Kinda implies that you don’t.”

“That’s  _because_ I don’t.” He closes his eyes. “They don’t want to see me.”

“Oh,” Lance frowns, “I’m sorry to hear that, man.”

Keith just shrugs his shoulders. He’s always felt unwanted. Ever since his dad disappeared when he was only eight, he was relocated from his hometown in Texas to an orphanage in Arizona. For four years, he stayed at that orphanage, watching as couples looked past him and adopted other children. As he neared his teens, Keith felt there wasn’t any point in hoping for a family anymore.

That is, until the Shirogane family came in looking for a child. They were told, just like the few other adults that were captivated by Keith, that he would be a problematic child. “ _He has a bad temper and would occasionally fight back_ ,” said the adults at the orphanage. Of course, they sugar-coated the fact that he wasn’t fully human by saying he was “different” from the rest of the kids.

Unlike the other adults though, the Shiroganes were willing to raise such a “problematic” child. Even more so when their high achieving son, Takashi, took an immediate liking to Keith.

Lance decides to break the silence between them. “I’ll have that orange juice, if you don’t mind.” He gives Keith a sympathetic smile.

Keith tries to smile back, “I’ll be right back then.”

He makes his way back to the kitchen for the beverage. When he returns, orange juice in hand, he doesn’t need to use his powers to see that Lance is looking at the thick books on the shelf next to the TV.

“Thanks,” says Lance as his juice is handed to him. After a couple sips, he says, “Are those yearbooks? I can see years printed on the sides.”

“Yeah. They’re from middle school and high school,” Keith scratches his arm, “Shiro likes to get yearbooks.”

A smug grin begins to form across Lance’s face, “Middle school, huh?” He stands and makes his way to the bookshelf, “Can I see?”

“Sure.”

Letting his fingers run over the spines, Lance settles for the oldest yearbook in the collection and takes it off the shelf. He sets the juice on the coffee table as he sits back down and starts thumbing through the book.

“Whose yearbook is this anyway?”

“It’s mine. They’re all mine since Shiro’s are still with his parents’.” Keith leans over and starts flipping closer to the middle of the book, “This one’s from when I was in 7th grade.”

Once he finds the section for 7th graders, Keith sits back as Lance starts looking through the names. He hears Lance mutter to himself, “ _’K_ _’, where is_ _‘K_ _’_ …”

A few pages later, Lance finds the page with Keith’s picture. He blinks a couple times as he looks at it. Finally turning to Keith, he points at it and says, “Wait.  _That_ _’s_ you?”

Keith glances at the spot where Lance’s finger is, “Yeah?”

Lance whips his head to look at the page again, “But, uh, the name is different.”

“Yeah, my birth name is Akira Kogane.”

“No way,” Lance laughs.

“When I moved here, Shiro enrolled me to Garrison High School as ‘Keith’.”

Lance goes back to the shelf and picks up a later yearbook, one from Keith’s sophomore year. After a bit of searching, Lance finds Keith’s picture along with the name “ _Keith Kogane_ ” underneath the photo.

Laughing, Lance looks up at Keith, “Okay, but why the name ‘Keith’ though? That’s such an old man name.”

Keith rolls his eyes, but a smile graces his lips, “It was a nickname from my birth dad from before he disappeared. When Shiro told me about his nickname, I told him about mine, so it sorta sticked.”

Lance leans towards Keith, “So, should I start calling you ‘Akira’ then?”

Keith clears his throat, trying not to think about the nice way it sounded when Lance said his name, “No, that’d be weird.”

They spend the next hour just looking through all the yearbooks. Lance got a kick out of Keith’s freshman photo.

“Are those  _braces_?”

“Shut up,” Keith huffs.

“And what are you doing in that photo? What kind of smile is that?”

Keith can’t help but laugh along with Lance. “The photographer spent like ten minutes trying to get me to smile. I think he just gave up and took that.”

Lance wipes a few tears from his eyes as he tries to calm down, “Okay but for real,  _braces_ , and for a vampire no less.”

“Yeah, how ironic is that?”

“Oh yeah, how fun it must have been for the orthodontist.”

“It was even more fun for the dentist who had to take out my wisdom teeth when I was high on that sedative.”

Lance is practically snorting now, “Oh my god!”

“I don’t remember much of what happened, but apparently, I was telling the dentist how much of a vampire I was. And when he didn’t believe me, I grew my fangs out and he freaked out.”

“Keith! Oh my gosh!”

“Shiro had to take care of the situation. We haven’t gone back to that dental office since.”

It takes a couple of minutes for them to calm down. They both sit back on the couch, a comfortable silence between them except for the occasional giggle here and there. Lance glances back at the now empty shelf.

“Are those all of the yearbooks?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, the books here go from 7th grade, all the way to junior year. Where’s senior year?”

Keith just stares at the yearbooks all over the coffee table. He starts picking them up and says, “There is no yearbook for senior year. I just didn’t get one.”

“Senior year is kinda important. Plus, I doubt Shiro would wanna skip such an important year.”

Keith sighs as he puts the final book back in its place, “After I got expelled from Garrison, I moved back to Arizona with Shiro’s parents.”

“Oh,” Lance’s face falls. “But wouldn’t they want to get a yearbook too?”

Keith inhales, “Shiro went missing halfway through the first semester of junior year. I tried to keep quiet about it, tried to live on my own.” He wraps his arms around himself, “But the pressure to find him got to me and I lashed it out on a teacher. The school ended up telling my parents and I was forced to move back in with them, and to tell them that Shiro was missing.”

“They were too focused on finding Shiro. They didn’t care about how I nearly failed school,” Keith blinks a couple of times, “Anyway, I ended up finding him before I graduated.”

“That’s good,” Lance says softly, “That you got him back.”

“Yeah.”

Silence envelops them once more. Keith internally kicks himself. God, why did he have to tell practically his whole life story? Lance didn’t ask for all the details yet Keith just rambled about everything. “Sorry, you probably didn’t want to hear all that.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“But you didn’t exactly ask for all that.”

“But still, I’m glad you told me.” Keith blinks at him. “Uh, that is… You probably don’t have someone to talk to about all this. And I don’t mind hearing it. After all, I  _am_ still curious about you.”

Keith cracks a smile, “Maybe a little  _too_ curious.”

 

-

 

Lance made his way back home shortly after that. He would’ve liked to stay longer, but he also didn’t want to impose on Keith’s nocturnal sleeping schedule. Even as Keith insisted that he couldn’t sleep, Lance noticed the sleepiness in his eyes.

He spent he remainder of daylight playing the MMO by himself. When the sun started to set, Lance went over to pick his friends up to watch some scary movies at his house.

When they arrived at his house, Lance announced, “Alright! You guys ready to get spooked?”

Hunk and Pidge cheer in unison as they make their way into the living room. Lance’s parents remained in the kitchen so as not to disturb their movie session. “Ma!” Lance calls, “Can you save some of the candy for me?”

“Only if there aren’t a lot of trick-or-treaters tonight.” Lance groans at which his mother steps out of the kitchen to throw a mini snickers candy at him. “Pray that you get more than that.”

Both Pidge and Hunk laugh at the way Lance scrambles to pick up the small candy. “Anyway,” he begins unwrapping the candy, “You guys wanna watch Nightmare Before Christmas first or save that for last?”

“Considering how I only have until 9pm tonight to go home,” says Pidge, “I say we watch it first.”

“Yeah, yeah. You kids and your curfews,” Lance waves his hands in dismissal before popping the little chocolate into his mouth.

They pop the DVD in and soon start watching the movie. Though they’ve only started it last year, they made it tradition to watch  _The Nightmare Before Christmas_  every Halloween together. They especially make a point of singing along to  _This Is Halloween_ as off-key as possible.

When the movie ends, they take a break before watching the next movie. And then the next one. By the third movie, Lance’s body strains in exhaustion. He’s not even paying attention to the movie anymore.

Lance barely registers the soft jabs to his side. “Lance, I need to go home now.”

Lance groans. Normally on nights like this, Pidge’s mom would come pick them up. But it’s Halloween and Pidge said that she was doing a special neighborhood kids party.

“Alright Pidgey,” Lance takes a moment to stretch, “Let’s go. We’ll be right back, Hunk.”

Hunk only hums a response. He must be tired too.

Both friends head for Lance’s car. After slamming the door closed and putting on his seatbelt, Lance sorts through his keys before putting the right one in the ignition. They pull out of the driveway and are on their way.

“So Pidge,” says Lance, “How was that homecoming dance?”

Pidge just gives him a deadpan stare, “You of all people should know I don’t go to those kinds of events.”

“I’m talking about the reviews! What did everyone at school say about the dance?”

Pidge snorts, “Well, I have yet to hear someone say they liked it unironically.”

“No way,” Lance chuckles, “it was that bad?”

Pidge shrugs, “I mean, the photos on the school’s blog probably didn’t do all the props justice. I’m sure all the fake blood looked more glamorous than  _that_.” Lance detected the sarcastic tone in their voice.

“Aw man, I’m sad I missed it.” Lance wipes away a fake tear.

“But seriously, I heard the only cool thing they did was this light show they did for the werewolf part of the theme.”

“Aw, no love for vampires?”

“No apparently,” Pidge makes a show of adjusting their glasses, “All the vampire stuff they had were coffins and the fruit punch looking like blood. Even one of the teachers dressed as Dracula.”

“A sexy Dracula?” Lance raises both eyebrows.

“As if Mr. English could be sexy.”

Lance wrinkled his nose, “Ew, that old fart?” Lance remembers Mr. English. Although he never had him, he was famous in the English department for that name. The teachers would joke amongst themselves, saying that the old man was practically born for the job of an English teacher. “Did anyone dress as a werewolf though?”

“Yeah, one of the Spanish teachers did. They basically wore a fursuit.”

Both of them laugh. Soon, Lance pulls up in front of Pidge’s house. As Pidge opens the door, Lance waves, “Happy Halloween, Pidge.”

Pidge smiles, “Happy Halloween, Lance.”

Lance watches as Pidge goes up the front steps, turn around for a final wave at Lance, and heads inside.

 

-

 

Is it actually possible? No, caution should be exercised here. Pidge was nearly fooled once, they won’t be fooled again.

Pidge doesn’t bother finding their mom. They can just shoot her a text saying that they’re home. Right now, more pressing matters are at hand.

Pidge anxiously opens their laptop and checks their email. They could’ve done this on their phone while at Lance’s house, but the link in the email wouldn’t work well on mobile. Pidge reads the email message as they click on the link.

_User 7738390 replied to your message. Click here to reply._

It’s an email from the deep web forum Pidge found when researching supernatural phenomenon. The forum poster that talked about vampires, user 7738390, claimed to be the survivor of the vampire case in the UK. Pidge could only find screenshots of the original post on other forums and supernatural websites. But to find the direct source just a few nights ago was a miracle.

For this particular forum site, Pidge had to set up an account just to view the posts. Using a separate email, Pidge logs in and opens their private messages. They see the first message they had sent to user 7738390.

 

_RoverGundarson: are you really the survivor of that case?_

 

Pidge was running out of leads. They thought that maybe contacting people who had personal encounters with vampires could lead them somewhere. So far, the users had been shady, describing their encounters in great detail but would flounder when asked for proof. Not to mention that none of these people seem to understand basic spelling or grammar.

But user 7738390 is different. They seem almost methodical in their reply.

 

_User7738390: If you are referring to the vampire case in Manchester, then yes, I am that very survivor._

Pidge stares at the timestamp next to the message.  _10/31/17, 8:14PM._ Pidge had only sent their message nearly a week ago and honestly, based on user 7738390’s nonexistent online activity, Pidge wasn’t really expecting a reply at all.

They quickly type out a reply.

 

_RoverGundarson: I_   _’m messaging you for some information on vampires. I have reasons to believe that some of my family have gone missing because of vampires. I am hoping to find some useful information on how to locate them._

Pidge sits back in their chair. How long would it take for them to reply? Considering how recent they responded, it could be soon.

Sure enough, they send a response back a few minutes later.

 

_User7738390: I would strongly advise not actively seeking out those monsters. You don_   _’t know what they are capable of. But if you are determined enough to find your missing family, then I will do what I can to help._

Pidge goes to type out a response when another message pops up, surprising them.

 

_User7738390: That is, if I can trust you with this information._

Pidge raises an eyebrow, allowing a small grin spread across their face.

 

_RoverGundarson: Perhaps if we met in person, you would feel more comfortable sharing your knowledge with me. Please forgive me but I couldn_   _’_   _t help but track your I.P. address from your most recent post, which by the way is a response to someone who replied to your original post. It_   _’_   _s from two years ago but I do have some concerns if you_   _’_   _ve moved at all._

Pidge leans back and watches the screen, arms bent behind their head. They are totally bluffing about the I.P. address thing, but it’s not like they couldn’t actually check.

It takes a bit longer for them to reply back. Pidge sits up straighter as they read the message.

 

_User7738390: I apologize for the delay in response. I had a friend of mine track YOUR I.P. address from the messages we have exchanged so far. It_ _’_   _s only fair that we know each other_   _’_   _s locations, albeit mine may be outdated._

Oh, they’re good.

 

_User7738390: But it may please you to know that a personal meeting can be arranged. I_   _’_   _m only a few cities away from your location. Perhaps we should exchange our emails and communicate that way. Personally, I don_   _’_   _t really trust that this website is secure with its private messaging._

Pidge considers that for a moment. Throughout their life, their parents had told them to be careful on the internet for strangers, especially if they want to meet up. But this could be the lead Pidge is looking for. Finally, Pidge types out:

 

_RoverGundarson: My email is p.k.holt@gmail.com. I hope we meet soon._

The response is much quicker this time.

 

_User7738390: Mine is a.smythe292@gmail.com. Likewise._


	4. Painful Memories 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requiring adult supervision, Pidge takes Lance to see the famed survivor of the deadliest vampire attack in history. And as Thanksgiving arrives, Lance makes an announcement to his family.

_“_ _Akira,_ _”_ _the thin Japanese woman called,_ _“_ _Your father and I received a call at work from the police today._ _”_

_Crap. Akira had begged the police officer NOT to tell his stepparents._

_“_ _It_ _’_ _s a lie,_ _”_ _he muttered._

_“_ _We haven_ _’_ _t even discussed what he told us,_ _”_ _her hands settle on her hips._

_“_ _If you know what we are discussing,_ _”_ _said Akira_ _’_ _s stepfather,_ _“_ _Then that makes things easier._ _”_ _He puts a hand on Akira_ _’_ _s shoulder,_ _“_ _Just be honest with us._ _”_

_Akira doesn_ _’_ _t meet his eyes as he crosses his arms._

_“_ _Tell us what the officer means when he said that you bit a classmate,_ _”_ _Akira_ _’_ _s stepmother_ _’_ _s voice rises,_ _“_ _And that he had to go to the hospital afterward?!_ _”_

_“_ _And that his guardians want to SUE us,_ _”_ _his stepfather finishes._

_“_ _Just tell us what happened, Akira,_ _”_ _his stepmother pleads,_ _“_ _We_ _’_ _re not going to punish you right now, but please tell us. We don_ _’_ _t understand what_ _’_ _s going on._ _”_

_Akira bows his head, letting the bangs of his hair block his view,_ _“_ _You guys wouldn_ _’_ _t believe me,_ _”_ _he mumbled._

_“_ _That_ _’_ _s nonsense,_ _”_ _said his stepmother,_ _“_ _Whatever it is, we_ _’_ _ll come to understand._ _”_

_Akira takes a deep breath as he closes his eyes. As nervous as he is about telling his only family about what he is, maybe it_ _’_ _s about time they found out. Shiro had accepted him for who he was, so they should too, right?_

_He opens his eyes and as calmly as he could muster, he says,_ _“_ _I bit that guy because I was thirsty._ _”_ _His stepparents look at him as if he_ _’_ _d grown two extra heads. He continues, softly,_ _“_ _I_ _’_ _m_ _…_ _I_ _’_ _m a vampire._ _”_

_Akira_ _’_ _s stepmother takes a few steps towards him and lets her hand run through his hair. It_ _’_ _s a sensation that he_ _’_ _s grown to like. His stepmother would sometimes tell him that his somewhat long hair made him look very handsome. She liked long hair and liked brushing Akira_ _’_ _s. Even if Akira would swat her hands away, he appreciated the sentiment._

_She leans down so Akira has to look into her face,_ _“_ _Does Takashi know what happened?_ _”_

_Akira immediately pushes her hand away,_ _“_ _See? You don_ _’_ _t believe me._ _”_

_Just then, Shiro walks into the room._ _“_ _What_ _’_ _s going on?_ _”_

_“_ _Takashi,_ _”_ _said Akira_ _’_ _s stepfather,_ _“_ _do you know what Akira did?_ _”_

_Shiro glances down at Akira_ _’_ _s face. Akira_ _’_ _s eyes are glassy but hold Shiro_ _’_ _s gaze._

_“_ _Well, what did Akira say?_ _”_

_Akira_ _’_ _s stepmother stands back up. Slowly, she says_ _“_ _He says he bit his classmate because he was ‘thirsty’._ _”_

_Shiro nods,_ _“_ _Yeah, he was._ _”_ _Then he leans towards Akira and mock whispers,_ _“_ _How much did you drink?_ _”_

_“_ _Takashi!_ _”_ _their mother snaps,_ _“_ _don_ _’_ _t humor him._ _”_

_“_ _But it_ _’_ _s the truth,_ _”_ _Akira nearly shouts._ _“_ _I can prove it._ _”_ _Without a second thought, he goes to the refrigerator in the kitchen and takes out a juice box. In his parents_ _’_ _confused state, he returns with his elongated fangs as he sinks his teeth into the box, juice spilling onto the floor and his shirt._

_Akira_ _’_ _s gut drops as he watches his parents_ _’_ _expressions fall to horror as he sucks the juice out. When he_ _’_ _s done, he retracts his fangs._ _“_ _See? I_ _’_ _m_ _…_ _I_ _’_ _m a monster._ _”_

_Akira just stares at the floor as his parents just remain silent in shock. When he takes a tentative look up, he sees them leaving the room. He tries to will the tears away as his vision begins to blur. Before he knows it, Shiro has his warm arms wrapped around him._

_“_ _Just give them time,_ _”_ _he says as he rubs Akira_ _’_ _s back. Akira doesn_ _’_ _t hold back anymore and weeps into Shiro_ _’_ _s shirt._

 

-

 

“You want me to  _what?_ ” Lance nearly shrieks. It’s the middle of November now, nearing Thanksgiving break. He hasn’t hung out with Keith since that time in his apartment, mostly because he’s been busy with homework, especially Astronomy. That class is killer on Lance’s desire to socialize.

“Just go with me. I promise to make it up to you,” pleads Pidge.

“But why me?”

“Three reasons,” Pidge begins to count off on their fingers, “My mom can’t take me because she doesn’t know, and I plan on keeping it that way. I need a ride and I need an adult with me.”

Lance narrows his eyes, “Just what exactly are you doing?”

“I’m meeting with someone from the internet.”

Lance chokes on the juice pouch he’s been drinking. He pounds his chest with a fist a couple times before speaking again. “From the internet? You of all people should know  _not_ to meet up with strangers from the internet.”

“I know that,” Pidge snaps, and then falters, “it’s just… this is important to me.”

Lance is silent as he takes in the situation. Pidge had come over to his house this morning asking for a favor, which made Lance weary since Pidge never really came to him for anything before.

“If it’s any consolation, it was their idea that I take an adult with me.”

Lance looks back at Pidge, a pleading look on their face. “Whose idea?”

“The person I’m meeting with.”

“Oh, right.” Lance throws his now empty juice pouch in the trash. Turning to Pidge, he says, “Alright, I’ll go with you.  _Just_ to make sure you’re safe.”

Pidge lets out a soft ‘ _Yes!_ ’ before bounding for the front door. “Thanks Lance! I owe you one.”

“Yeah, yeah,” waves Lance.

 

-

 

Lance was not expecting to meet at a very reputable hotel just on the outskirts of town. “Are you sure this is the place?”

Pidge looks at the map on their phone from the passenger seat, “Yes, we’re here.”

Trusting Pidge over his own doubts, Lance swings his car into an empty visitor’s parking space. As they climb out of the car, a million thoughts run through Lance’s head. What if this mysterious person tries to kidnap Pidge? Would Lance be able to stop them? He  _was_ pretty strong and agile thanks to those P.E. drills back in high school. But he hasn’t been exactly working out since then.

“You okay, Lance?” Pidge’s voice snaps Lance out of his thoughts.

Lance tries to smile, “Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. You just, seem quiet.”

“I’m just worried how this is all gonna go, ya know? I’m worried about you.”

Pidge smiles, “Thanks Lance.”

They enter through the revolving doors and into the hotel lobby. Lance takes a moment to take in the atmosphere of the room. It’s nice and warm inside compared to the freezing weather. The lights give the area a warm glow. Pidge walks further ahead, towards the elevator.

“C’mon, this way.”

Lance follows, walking past the front desk. The lady there greets them with a smile and Lance smiles back.

Pidge pushes the elevator button and Lance watches the dial above the doors as the arrow slowly moves across the numbers until it lands on the number one. There’s a ding and soon the elevator doors swing open. They walk inside.

Pidge tries to reach for one of the floor numbers, standing on their tippy toes. “What number are you trying to reach for?”

“Floor ten,” Pidge’s voice strains.

“Here, I got ya,” Lance moves over to the buttons and presses the number ten, making the button glow with a white light. Soon, the elevator starts moving. They stand there idly until a ding sounds off, indicating that they’ve reached their floor. The doors slide open and Pidge is back to leading the way again.

Eventually, Pidge stops in front of a door and knocks. Lance stands behind them, ready to pull them back in case this person decides to snatch Pidge into their room. After a couple of seconds the door opens, revealing the most beautiful girl Lance has ever seen. She has dark brown skin with beautifully contrasting silver hair. Her blue-purple eyes shine in the lights of the hallway.

“Oh, you’re here early,” Lance notices the english accent.

“Yup, and I brought my ‘adult’,” Pidge points to Lance behind them.

Lance tries to muster his most dazzling smile, “Hi, I’m Lance.”

The girl frowns and then sighs, “He will have to do.”

“Hey!”

The girl ignores Lance’s outburst and holds the door open, “Please, come in.”

They step inside, with the girl closing the door behind them. Lance notices the chairs that are arranged around a glass coffee table.

“I was in the middle of making hot cocoa when you arrived. Would you like some?”

“No thanks,” says Pidge.

“Alright, please take a seat,” the girl gestures to the chairs, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

Pidge and Lance take their seats, with Lance slouching comfortably in his chair. In a couple of minutes, the girl is back with a mug. She takes a sip from it before sitting down.

“Before we start,” she says, “I would like to remind you that everything we discuss stays in this room.”

“Of course,” says Pidge. Lance just nods.

“ _And_ that you use the information I’m about to give you for your personal use only. I can’t have you leaking this information publicly,” she scowls, “A number of occult journalists have tried to locate me over the years and I’d rather stay hidden.”

Lance furrows his brows in confusion. Did she just say “occult”?

“Understood,” affirms Pidge, “Oh, but before we start, I think we should introduce ourselves again, just so Lance doesn’t feel out of the loop.”

The expression on the girl’s face eases, “That sounds fair.” She takes another sip from her mug and then sets it down onto the coffee table. “My name is Allura. Pleasure to meet you.”

Pidge gestures to themselves, “I’m Pidge, and this is my friend Lance.”

“I have a question,” Lance speaks up, “Did I hear you right? It sounded like you said ‘occult’.”

“That’s right,” Allura nods, “I am the survivor of the vampire attack in Manchester, England. The one that killed off my entire family.” She tilts her head, “I believe Pidge said that you were informed of that case.”

Lance remembers. At the time, he didn’t believe it. But now that he’s learned more about Keith, he believes anything’s possible.

Lance nods his head, “Yeah.”

“Good,” says Allura, “That saves us time.” She leans back in her chair, “So, let’s begin.”

“Right,” says Pidge. They pull out their phone and Lance can see what looks like a list of questions. “First, I’d like to know more about how vampires operate. Do they work alone or is there a vampire organization?”

“Vampires typically attack alone but operate in groups. In each group, there is a sort of leader that answers to a higher hierarchy. I speculate that there is some vampire network around the world with an ultimate leader of some sort that is at the top of that hierarchy.”

Pidge raises their brows, “What makes you so sure?”

Allura’s expression darkens, “My  _entire_ family was attacked. That includes extended members that did not live with me and those with different surnames. Only a leading organization could pull off something like that and succeed.”

“But you’re here,” Lance blurts out, “As long as you’re still alive, they didn’t succeed. There might even be other survivors like you out there.”

The hands in Allura’s lap clench a little, but a somber smile graces her lips, “One can only hope.” Silence passes for a moment before Allura speaks up again, “Pidge, you said you have suspicions of your family being kidnapped by those monsters, correct?”

“Yes,” Pidge replies, “My father and my brother were kidnapped in the middle of the night along with another person they worked with. An investigation took place and they found the kidnappers. They were going to be brought into a police station for interrogation but the moment they left the police car, they were visibly burning in the sunlight.” Lance watches Pidge with wide eyes.

“My mother and I weren’t directly told about this, I found out about it among other details through hacking into the police database.”

“Could you elaborate on the other details?” inquires Allura.

Pidge adjusts their glasses as they continue, “The reports I found described how the convicts would refuse to eat any food offered to them but showed no signs of starvation or hunger. Also, one of the police officers leading the investigation supposedly experienced anemia and had to leave the investigation, only for another officer to suffer from it as well. But what really irked me as odd is that after about a month, the investigation was called off.”

Allura leans forward in her seat, “That would mean either the local police don’t want that information to reach public knowledge, or that the culprits have died somehow, cutting off any leads.” She puts a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, “That further proves that there’s a large network at work here. The fact that your family is still missing could mean they have been transferred to another location, still in the hands of those monsters.”

Lance couldn’t help but notice Allura’s tone of voice when she says “those monsters”. He understands why she would hate vampires so much, after all, they killed her family. All Allura’s ever known regarding them is pain and suffering.

“Uh, I don’t mean to pry, but…” Lance asks tentatively, “How old were you when it happened? You know, when you lost your family…”

Allura takes a breath before answering, “Before I left secondary school, so at about sixteen.”

“How’d you do it?” Lance’s voice goes soft.

“A family friend reached out to me,” Allura begins to sniffle, but her expression remains strong, “He adopted me and raised me as if I were his own.”

A few moments of silence pass until Allura speaks up again, “Pidge, I will do whatever I can to help locate your family. I don’t want anyone else to suffer loss at the hands of vampires ever again.”

Pidge smiles, and eventually, so does Allura.

 

-

 

An hour passed before Pidge decided it was time to head home, especially since it has already started to get dark so early. They exchange a goodbye to Allura before leaving the suite.

Pidge and Lance go back the way they came, through the elevator and back out into the lobby. Once they’re in Lance’s car, Pidge speaks up.

“You can  _not_ tell Hunk about anything that happened today.”

“I won’t tell him, don’t worry,” says Lance, “But he’ll start poking his nose into it if he gets suspicious.”

They drive in silence for a couple minutes. All the while, Lance thinks about what they went over back at the hotel. It’s clear that Allura hates vampires, yet she knows a lot about them. When pressed about that, she simply stated that her family had a long line of vampire hunters that documented their findings. It was also the main reason they were attacked. Allura said she didn’t believe in any of it at the time, but she would later regret not studying those documents as a majority of them were burned.

Pidge startles Lance out of his thoughts, “I know it may seem far fetched, but surprisingly, you’re taking all this in really well.”

“Yeah well,” Lance gestures vaguely, “She seemed pretty serious so it must be true.”

Silence follows as Pidge doesn’t press further. But for some reason, Lance keeps talking, “I wanna help too somehow. Not just you, but Allura too. I can’t help thinking about how much she hates vampires. They’re not all bad ya know.”

Pidge considers him for a moment, “You sound as though you know a lot about vampires too.”

Lance’s eyes widen, realizing his mistake, “I-I mean, I’m sure they’re not  _all_ bad. Some just might be chill with living among humans. I don’t know, just hypothetically thinking out loud here.”

Pidge hums in response. Lance isn’t entirely sure if Pidge believes him, but keeps quiet throughout the ride home.

 

-

 

“We’re ending class a little early today,” says Shiro, “Happy Thanksgiving break, everyone.” The loud rusting of pages and backpacks zipping fills the classroom. Normally, Lance would be one of the first people out, but lately he’s stuck to waiting for Keith so they can walk together.

Lance watches by his desk as Keith walks up to the front of the class to mutter something to Shiro. Shiro’s expression remains neutral as he nods his head before turning back to packing up his own things. Keith returns to his own desk and swiftly finishes packing.

Hoisting his book bag over his shoulder, Keith turns to Lance, “Ready?”

Lance smiles, “Yeah.”

They both exit the classroom and make their way to the stairs.

“So, I was wondering…” Lance starts.

“Yeah?”

Lance’s arm reaches up to rub at his neck sheepishly. He’s definitely gotten to know Keith a little better but man, is it still hard to make eye contact, especially with eyes like those. His fingers brush over the bandage on his neck.

“Uh, since it’s gonna be Thanksgiving soon, I was wondering if you’d like to come hang with me and my friends for our annual post-thanksgiving potluck.” Lance glances over at Keith, watching for any kind of reaction, “Unless you already have plans that weekend then it’s cool.”

Keith looks thoughtful for a moment before answering, “You want me to meet your friends?”

Lance panics, “No! I mean, yes. I mean, I’ve been talking about you to them and they’re curious about you.” He then adds quickly, “I didn’t say anything though! It’s mostly just school stuff.”

Keith smiles in a shy sort of way as he looks away from Lance, “I’m not doing anything that weekend. Just a home-cooked dinner with Shiro and that’s it.” Lance’s breath is taken away when Keith peers back at him through his bangs, “I’ll go.”

Lance must have stared for too long when Keith clears his throat, snapping Lance out of his daze.

“Alright, cool!” Lance recovers, “I’ll text you the address of where we’re gonna meet up.”

Keith smiles, “Can’t wait.”

Lance tries to control the beating of his heart the rest of the way, but to no avail.

 

-

 

Keith doesn’t know what to do. He’s been pacing in his room for the last five minutes after receiving a text from Lance, giving him directions to one of his friends’ house. Keith stops in front of his nightstand, staring down at his phone. He snatches it with unnecessary speed and opens the text conversation.

 

_Lance: sent a link._

_Lance: i sent u a map that leads to my friend Pidge’s house_

_Lance: since my other friend hunk (u remember him??) and i have family over for thanksgiving, we always hang out at pidge’s house since it’s just him and his mom_

_Keith: cool_

_Keith: and I think I remember him? was he the one always wearing an orange headband?_

_Lance: yup!!_

_Lance: wait u remember hunk but u didnt remember me???? rude_

_Lance: anyway see ya this weekend man_

_Keith: see u_

 

Keith drags a hand down his face. He doesn’t know if he should feel grateful for Lance inviting him over to hang out with his friends, or nervous for that same reason.

Lance said that he talked about him to his friends  _mostly_ about school, so what did that mean exactly? He had made it clear he hadn’t talked about Keith’s humanity. So what else could that mean? Did Lance make fun of Keith to his friends like back in high school? Lance  _did_ take a picture of his hair, though not once, but twice. Keith recalls Lance snapping a picture of his ponytail during a particular class to send it to someone via text. Keith made a point of slightly pulling out of Lance’s vision whenever his phone would appear in his peripheral so he wouldn’t read any of Lance’s private conversations.

But then Keith thinks about the few times they’ve hung out together for a little bit after class. He thinks about how Lance stared at him when he told him he’d go to his and his friends’ thanksgiving potluck, and how Lance’s heart never seemed to stop racing after that. Keith hopes he’s not reading into things wrong but, what if Lance…?

Keith’s face heats up at the thought. Blaming the temperature on the poor ventilation of his room, Keith stalks out into the living room, the smell of turkey hitting him on his way.

Keith hears the sound of clattering dishes and utensils much louder out here as well as Shiro’s not-so-quiet humming. Without looking up, Shiro says, “Dinner’s almost ready, Keith.” He didn’t need to shout due to Keith’s acute hearing, so Keith just sticks to lying on the sofa.

Keith lets out a long exhale through his nose as he stares at nothing in particular. “Whoa,” he hears Shiro, “when did you get out here?”

Keith tips his head until he’s upside down, facing the kitchen, “Just now.”

“I thought you hated the noise in here.”

“Yeah,” is all Keith says.

“So why are you out here then?”

“‘s hot in my room.”

“It’s November,” deadpans Shiro.

“‘s still hot in there.” Shiro just sighs.

“Anyway, the turkey casserole is almost done, so sit tight.”

Keith just hums in response. He nearly forgot why he came here in the first place. That is, until his eyes landed on the bookshelf next to the TV. Without really thinking, Keith gets up and walks over to the shelf, pulling out one book with gold lettering on the cover.

 

_Garrison High School 2015-2016_

 

Keith opens the book and begins to thumb through the pages. Skipping over the sections for freshmen and sophomores, Keith stops on a particular page in the junior section. A dark haired, dark eyed teenage boy stares back at him. Keith wasn’t particularly someone who cared about what other people thought about him or his appearance. Yet somehow he won the hearts of several girls in his class, which had prompted the whole rivalry with Lance.

Keith turns the page over and lets his fingers brush over the page. His fingers stop at a certain picture of a familiar boy, his bright white smile dazzling. Little hearts are drawn on the corners of the photo in fading red sharpie marker.

Thankfully, Lance hadn’t seen it when he came over last time.

“Dinner’s ready,” Shiro calls from the kitchen.

Keith looks at the photo a little while longer before closing the yearbook and returning it back on the shelf.

 

-

 

To say Lance is nervous would be an understatement. “Terrified” would better describe it. Lance knows his family loves him very much, but he doesn’t know how they’ll react once he comes out to them.

All throughout dinner, starting with the preparations, to setting the table, and to sitting down to eat, Lance’s anxiety grew until he couldn’t stand still any longer. His mother was the first to notice.

“Lance? Are you okay?”

Lance’s gaze moves to look at his mother, a worried crease forming over her brows. “Y-yeah, I’m okay, Ma,” he lies.

His mother tuts, “You’re clearly not okay. You haven’t even touched your food.”

Lance looks down at the fork he’s been idly turning in his hand, his first serving of food still on his plate. He sighs as he puts his fork down, “Ma, I have something to tell you,” he looks around the table and sees he has the attention of everyone else, “Actually, I have something to tell everyone.”

“Why so serious all of a sudden?” says his brother Marco.

“Lance, you’re scaring me,” mutters his sister Veronica quietly.

Lance takes a deep breath before speaking, “I just… I’m afraid of what you all will think of me after I tell you. And I’ve been waiting until today so…” Just say it. It’s like ripping off a bandaid. Fast and painless, just say it already.

“I’m bisexual.”

A couple of seconds of silence pass until Lance hears what sounds like a sigh of relief from his mother.

“You scared me for a minute,  _m_ _ijo_.” Lance glances back up to see the expressions of his family’s faces.

“I kinda suspected you were for some time,” says his oldest brother Luis, “but I’m happy to hear you say it.”

“Yeah,” chimes Veronica, “You’d sometimes talk about how hot certain celebrities were. Do you still think Joe Jonas is-”

“Nope! I can’t hear you. Not listening,” Lance makes a motion of covering his ears which earn soft laughter from the dinner table.

“Either way,” says Lance’s father, “We still love you, Lance, if that’s what made you so nervous about telling us. We’re happy you did.”

Lance visibly relaxes, slouching in his seat, “Whew, okay good, ‘cause I was too afraid to start eating.” He picks his fork back up and starts digging in.

“Slow down, Lance,” his mother scolds.

The rest of thanksgiving dinner goes like it usually does. There’s talk of what Lance’s older sibling have been up to since they all moved out, how Lance is doing in college, et cetera. Overall, it felt normal, and that’s all Lance ever wanted.

 

-

 

“C’mon, Hunk. Just oooooone bite?”

“No.”

“I’m the driver so I say give me a turkey wing or I’m turning around.”

“And flake on Keith?” A groan. “Yeah didn’t think so.”

Lance continues driving with a pout on his face, the smell of Hunk’s turkey wings tantalizing him with its savory aroma.

After a couple blocks, Lance sees Pidge’s house on the horizon along with a familiar red motorcycle parked in front. Lance pulls up on the curb where Keith is standing. Hunk rolls down the car window, “Hey, Keith,” he greets.

“Hey,” responds Keith, “Hunk, right?”

“Yup, that’s me,” he leans out the window, “You got here early.”

“Yeah,” Keith laughs nervously, “My brother made me come by early.”

Lance turns off the ignition and opens the door on his side, “C’mon. Pidge’s waiting.”

Hunk and Lance gather their food while Keith follows them to the front door. Lance rings the doorbell.

“So, who is Pidge exactly?”

“Pidge is a friend from our senior year, when he was a freshman basically,” explains Lance, “So after you left.” Keith nods in understanding.

Soon, the door opens to Pidge still in their pajamas. “‘Bout time you got here.”

“Whadd’ya mean? We’re on time!” Bellows Lance.

“Yeah, but this guy’s been awkwardly standing here for the last ten minutes,” Pidge points at Keith. Both Hunk and Lance turn to look at Keith, who is making a point of not looking at anyone. Pidge and Hunk laugh it off, but Lance is still looking at him. Is he looking paler?

“Anyway,” says Pidge, “Get your butts in here, I’m starving.” They open the door wider to let their friends in.

“So, how does this work?” asks Keith.

“Well,” begins Hunk, “Lance and I bring in some of our leftovers from our own thanksgiving dinners here at Pidge’s house,” he makes his way into the kitchen, Lance one step behind him, “We either heat them up or make something new out of them.”

Keith nods his head as he follows along, “Lance brought a salad that I’ve been thinking we could turn into some kind of stir fry with some of the ingredients along with some leftover turkey wings that I brought.”

“Sounds good,” says Keith.

“Would you like to help?” Lance asks. He hopes Hunk didn’t catch the pleading in his tone.

Keith just nods his head and smiles, though Lance notices they don’t quite reach his eyes.

And so, Hunk, Lance, and Keith prepare their stir fry by first chopping several fresh vegetables. Hunk hovers over Keith as he shows him how to chop a tomato. Pidge is off in the dining room on their laptop. And Lance is on the other side of the kitchen chopping carrots. He vaguely hears the sound of Hunk’s instructions and the tentative sounds of a knife hitting a cutting board as he thinks about Keith.

It’s been about week since they last talked in person, the last time being after class last Wednesday. Had Keith looked pale then? Was Keith having withdrawals again? Since when was the last time Keith drank any blood? Was it back in October? It’s nearly been a month! Maybe Keith is only starting to get the withdrawals now since he’s half vampire and doesn’t need as much blood that often. But then again, how often does a regular vampire need bl-

“Ahh!” Lance yelps and nearly drops the knife he was holding on the floor.

“Lance!” Hunk shrieks, “What happened?”

Lance has his hand clutched to his chest as he turn to look at Hunk, his eyes wide. “Did you cut yourself?”

Lance looks down at the pain emanating from his finger and finds a trickle of blood streaming out of one thin red line across his knuckle.

“Aw, Lance,” Hunk sighs as he heads towards the dining room, “Pidge! You got a first aid kit around here?”

Once Hunk has left the kitchen, Lance looks at Keith, who has his back turned to Lance and is gripping the edge of the counter with both hands.

“Keith?” Lance says softly, “Are you okay?”

All Lance can hear is a shallow breathing in response. Then, Keith loosens his grip and turns to face the other boy and Lance gasps. The pupils of Keith’s eyes are blown wide and two pointed fangs protrude from his panting mouth.

“I’ll be fine,” Keith says hoarsely.

Shit. This is bad.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, Hunk comes rushing back in with a white box. “Okay, Pidge helped me find a first aid kit. We should take care of this in the bathroom.”

“Wait,” stalls Lance, “Can… can Keith come with me instead?”

Hunk looks back and forth between Lance and Keith, seemingly unaware of the tension in the air. “Ohhhh,” he breathes, and winks at Lance as he hands the first aid kit to Keith who is surprisingly keeping it together, “Sure, buddy. I’ll take care of things here while you take care of that cut.”

Lance tries not to book it to the bathroom as he drags Keith along with him while Keith tries to stay far enough away from Lance. Once they find the bathroom, Lance slams the door closed a bit too hard and turns to look at Keith.

“Okay,” he whispers, he knows Keith can hear him, “Are you  _really_ okay?”

But Keith doesn’t answer. He stares down at something with great intensity. Confused, Lance follows his line of vision and sees his bloody finger. Ah, of course.

Lance moves his hand closer to Keith’s face, making Keith blink back in surprise. “Do you… want to lick it?”

“...Can I?”

Lance nods.

After a couple seconds of what seems to be mental deliberation, Keith holds onto Lance’s hand with both of his hands, curling Lance’s other fingers. He first takes shy kitten licks on Lance’s finger, which tickles a little, but Lance focuses on keeping his hand still.

After a few licks, Keith surprises Lance by taking in nearly his whole finger and begins sucking. Lance’s brain short circuits at the sight of Keith slowly closing his eyes as he continues sucking. It suddenly feels too hot and intimate in here in Pidge’s bathroom, but he can’t find it in himself to pull his finger away.

Keith takes Lance’s finger out of his mouth after a couple of moments and slowly opens his eyes. “Lance,” he breathes.

“Huh?” Lance squeaks.

“Calm down. Your heart beat is driving me crazy.”

Right.

“Sorry,” Lance goes to pull his hand away, “We should hurry up.”

But Keith isn’t letting go. He goes to give the wound one final lick before finally releasing Lance’s hand. “You’re right.” They disinfect the wound and apply a bandaid over Lance’s finger without any further incident. When they come back to the kitchen, Hunk is already done with the stir fry.

The friends continue their potluck like normal, except Lance isn’t as talkative throughout the whole thing. He keeps glancing back at Keith, who is having no trouble eating the food.

Lance wonders if he can do more to help Keith. Clearly the blood from his finger wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Just where did Keith get his blood from anyway? The fact that Keith is having withdrawals again must mean he no longer has a source to feed off of.

Well, it looks like Lance will have to fix that.


	5. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the incident with the friends' potluck, Lance decides to offer himself to Keith. But what does Keith say?

On the following Monday, Lance’s first class, Astronomy, was cancelled. Which presents Lance with an opportunity. He sent a quick text to Keith saying that he’ll be visiting again before heading there in his old blue car. It’s still early, only 12:30PM, so Keith might not have read his text yet. Either way, he needs to talk to Keith.

Lance pulls up into a visitor parking space in the now familiar apartment complex. After he gets out of his car, he catches Shiro coming out of the apartment. Lance jogs over to the man.

“Lance,” Shiro smiles, “Did you come here to see Keith? I’m afraid he’s sleeping right now.”

“Yeah, well,” Lance rubs at his neck sheepishly, “I came by because I wanted to talk to him about something. Something important.”

Shiro’s smile falls, “Can it wait? If you want, I could relay the message to him.”

Lance shakes his head, “No. It’d be better if it was just between us. I hope you understand.”

Shiro regards Lance for a moment before sighing, “Alright. He hasn’t been asleep for that long, so you shouldn’t have much trouble waking him up.”

“Thanks,” Lance smiles.

They bid each other goodbye and Lance is left standing in front of the apartment door. He knocks softly against the door and after a few moments, the door swings open to reveal Keith in his pajamas, his eyes squinting in the sunlight.

“Lance,” breathes Keith.

“Hey man, can I come in?”

Keith opens the door wider for Lance to enter. The living room is as dark as it was last time Lance visited.

Seeing as Lance isn’t planning to sit down, Keith tentatively asks, “Do you want something to drink?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, no thanks. This…,” Lance inhales, “This should be quick.”

“Ok, uh,” Keith brings a hand and combs it through his hair, “I got your message. Plus I kinda heard you talking to Shiro.”

“Oh, right,” Lance attempts a casual finger-guns pose, “Vampire powers.”

Keith laughs softly and Lance tries not to internally combust at the sound.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

Lance gulps and forces his words out. “I noticed how you were sort of… hungry during the incident with the potluck...”

Lance’s nervousness skyrockets when Keith’s eyes lock on to him. Not in a threatening sort of way really. It’s more like Keith is silently challenging Lance to say what he needs to say. Like he’s a lion that is merely observing his prey intensely, not really deciding to go for the kill.

“I’m just concerned,” continues Lance, “about where you get your blood from.”

Keith’s eyes close as he sighs. After a pause, Keith answers, “I used to get blood packets from this hospital I volunteer at. But now it’s getting harder to sneak packets out so I’ve been…” Keith eyes Lance carefully, “I’ve been getting my blood from raw meat packets from the supermarket.”

Lance’s brows furrow in worry, “And how has that been doing for you?”

Keith doesn’t answer as he takes a seat on the couch. When Lance sits next to him, Keith turns and says, “Why are you asking about all this anyway?”

Here it is. The moment of truth. Lance takes a deep breath and speaks as clearly and firmly as he can.

“I want you to take my blood.”

Keith seemed to have expected this. He sighs as he shakes his head. “I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not? Clearly, you need better quality blood than dead and cold meat blood.” Now determined, Lance bounces up from the couch and heads for the kitchen. As soon as Lance catches sight of a knife block, his vision is filled with Keith’s body blocking his view. A surge of wind follows close behind.

“What are you doing?” Keith nearly yells.

“I just wanna help you, man!”

Keith’s hands suddenly fly to Lance’s shoulders, his grip bruising. “You’re already helping me by keeping this a secret. I don’t...” Keith looks down at the floor, “I don’t want to use you like that.”

Looking at Keith now, so openly vulnerable yet so headstrong about this, Lance decides to back off. For now.

“Okay. But can you at least think about it?”

It takes a moment for Keith to release his grip on Lance and look up at the other boy.

“Fine, I will.”

 

-

 

Lance finds it hard to concentrate during English class that night. He’s sitting next to Keith again up in the front of the class. He really should be taking notes for his final paper that’s due soon, but his mind opts to focus on his nonsense scribble doodling on the margins of his notes.

Just what was wrong with him? Can’t he learn to back off of other people’s problems? Clearly he doesn’t have the talent to help anyone. Sure he’s helped his friends Pidge and Hunk by being the designated driver of the bunch, being Pidge’s confidant about their investigation, and being Hunk’s own personal cooking assistant. But that’s about it. Lance doesn’t have anything that sets him apart, anything that defines him as Lance.

He must have been incredibly out of it when the thing that snaps him out of his daze is the loud rustling of everyone packing up. Lance doesn’t rush this time, instead he feels out of focus, like his vision is trapped underwater where his movements are slow and heavy. He abruptly snaps back to reality when he feels a nudge on his shoulder.

Keith moves around Lance so he’s standing in front of him. “Lance, are you okay?” Lance notices how Keith is panting a little.

“Yeah,” Lance feels a little breathless himself. “I’m fine. I was sorta spacing out there.”

“I’d say you were spacing out through all of class,” Keith frowns, “If it’s about what happened earlier-”

“No, no. It’s fine,” Lance interrupts, “I just had a lot on my mind. Ya know, stuff’s been happening recently.”

“Do you maybe… want to talk about it?”

Lance sighs, “No. Well, at least, not right now.” He rubs at his neck as he laughs awkwardly, “I mean, I don’t want to keep anything from you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Now it’s Keith’s turn to feel sheepish, “I was just… offering to be  _your_ listening ear. I know most of our conversations are usually about me, so I thought it would be fair if we talked about you for a change.”

Lance doesn’t know what to say about that. Sure he had talked about himself to a lot of people, but never anything so personal like his own fears or worries. It was usually superficial things like boasting about his good looks or how he could be the best at anything. Not even his closest friends know about his insecurities.

Finally, Lance says, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Keith smiles, “C’mon, we’re like the last one’s standing in class right now.”

Lance looks around his surroundings and only finds Shiro leaning against the door frame. Wow, he must  _really_ be out of it.

Shiro holds the door open for the both of them before turning the opposite direction to his office. Both boys just walk in comfortable silence in the hallway. Lance catches sight of a flyer right as he descends the stairs.

“A blood drive, huh.”

Keith turns to Lance, “Are you thinking about donating blood?”

Lance shakes his head, “Maybe. I might sneak off with a blood bag for you.” Lance jokes, which makes Keith snort softly.

“That might be hard to do when there’s like five people in that mobile.”

“Oh really?” Lance drawls playfully, “And how would you know?”

“I’m gonna be one of the volunteers helping out there,” Keith looks ahead, not really looking at Lance as he continues, “I won’t be drawing blood or anything. Just keeping stock of our inventory.”

“So,” wonders Lance, “You’re gonna be putting blood bags away or something?”

“Yeah,” replies Keith, “It was either doing that or sitting at the table out in front greeting people.”

Lance tries to imagine Keith sitting up straight at a white fold-up table, smiling brightly as he waves at passerbyers to convince them to donate blood. Lance laughs softly to himself as the image morphs into a more realistic scenario where Keith is slouching at his table probably scowling at his phone and not really greeting people in a welcoming manner. That’s just the kind of person Keith is.

“Maybe I’ll visit you,” says Lance.

“You’re gonna have to actually go inside the mobile and actually donate blood to even see me.”

Lance waves a hand in dismissal, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Besides, I don’t faint when I get my blood drawn.”

Lance catches the way Keith’s body slightly stiffens. He goes to apologize but Keith speaks first. “That’s… good to know.”

They turn to look at each other, stopping on the bottom set of stairs, just gauging the other’s reaction. Keith had promised earlier that he’d think about Lance’s offer, so it must still be fresh on his mind. Lance tries not to squirm under Keith’s gaze, tries not to think about the seriousness of what he had said earlier. Lance also tries not to think about that night when Keith had bit Lance and how painful it had felt, trying not to wonder how he might feel that pain again.

Lance exhales through his nose and lets a small smile spread across his face. This is Keith though. Keith who, although has a bad temper and isn’t super social, wouldn’t be the type of person to seriously hurt another. Or, at least Lance trusts that he isn’t.

“So when’s the blood drive?”

Keith just looks at Lance for a moment before smiling too, “It’s this wednesday.”

 

-

 

Lo and behold, when Lance arrives on campus that wednesday, he sees a bunch of sign arrows pointing to the location of the blood drive. Glancing at his phone for the time, Lance decides he can afford to check it out before going to his first class.

Or, that was the plan at least.

Lance hears some collective shouting of his name before he turns around and finds Hunk and Pidge waving at him enthusiastically. Thinking that the blood drive can wait, Lance approaches his friends.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?”

Pidge is still bouncing in excitement. “You gotta check out the final product of our robot!”

“Yeah, man!” Hunk is excited too, “We finished the final programming last night and we’re just dying to test it out.”

“Test it out on me, you mean?” Lance points a finger at himself.

“Basically,” says Pidge.

“Alright,” Lance smirks, intrigued, “Lay it on me.”

Pidge is practically bouncing when Hunk takes out a box from his backpack.

“I would like to formally introduce you to…” announces Hunk, “Funbot! (trademark).”

Hunk lifts the box to reveal a bulbous, standing robot. Just as Lance is about to ask about the choice in name, the little robot begins to beep (more like make that old internet start-up sound) and says, in a clear, monotone robotic voice, “WHAT THE FUCK IS UP KYLE, NO WHAT DID YOU SAY.”

Lance nearly jumps back, “Whoa!”

Pidge cheers and jumps up to high-five Hunk.

“Did, did the robot just quote a vine?”

“Yup!” beams Hunk, “So, you know how a lot of people that program talking robots just make the basic greetings, yes-no answering, and all that?” Lance just nods, not really following. “Well, Pidge and I thought that ‘what if we could make a cooler robot that can quote any popular vine or meme?’”

“So basically,” Pidge adjusts their glasses, a smug look on their face, “We spent nights programming and debugging this little guy to be able to reference memes, though mostly vines, just from surrounding conversations. Go ahead, it has a microphone built-in so you can set it up.”

Pursing his lips, Lance tries to think of a good meme for a robot to say. Finally, he snaps his fingers and leans close to the robot, and says, “And they were roommates.”

The robot then beeps for a couple seconds before replying, “OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMMATES.”

Lance leans back, slightly impressed. Okay, that might have been an easy one. Lance tries again, but this time he sings, “I wanna church girl…”

The robot replies, “THAT GO TO CHURCH. AND READ HER BIIIIBLE.”

Okay, okay. Hunk and Pidge both snicker as Lance tries to think again. Let’s see, let’s see.

Determined, Lance just screams at the robot. “AHH. STOOOOP I COULD’VE DROPPED MY CROISSANT.”

Standing back up, Lance hollers, “Oh my god! This robot is amazing!”

“And! And! You know the best part?” Lance shakes his head, “We… actually, why don’t you tell him, Hunk.”

“Why, thank you, Pidge.” A little confused, Lance turns expectantly to Hunk, “We made this robot for you for christmas, actually. But since we got it done early, there was no way we could wait until then. So, here,” Hunk hands the little robot over to Lance, “merry early christmas, Lance.”

The way Lance looks at the robot was like a mother looking at her newborn baby. His eyes wide and teary from pure elation.

He quickly rubs his sleeve across his eyes, “Oh my god, thanks you guys. I’ll treasure it.”

“Aw, Lance,” coos Pidge. Soon, both Hunk and Pidge surround Lance into a hug.

Lance sighs happily, “I love you guys.”

“[GUITAR STRUM] I LOVE YOU BITCH. [GUITAR STRUM] I AIN’T NEVER GON’ STOP LOVIN’ YOU, BIIITCH.”

The friends laugh at the timing. Releasing from the hug, Pidge steps in front of Lance to handle the robot.

“In case you ever want to turn this off to preserve the battery, or whatever, there’s an off switch back here.” Pidge turns the little robot so that Lance can see a very obvious red switch on the bot’s backside.

“Thanks Pidge, but I’m never turning this off, just so you know.” He boops a finger right on the tip of Pidge’s nose, making Pidge squawk in protest.

“Well, anyway,” says Hunk, “I gotta run to a club meeting.” Hunk packs up his things and slings his backpack over his shoulder. “Glad you like your gift!”

Pidge and Lance wave as Hunk leaves to one of the main buildings. Then, Pidge turns to Lance, “So, now what are we doing?”

Lance only half listens as he’s still marveling over the little piece of technology, “Hm? We?”

“Yeah, ‘we’. As in me and you, Lance.”

Lance blinks for a moment before whipping his head to look at Pidge, “Wait. No. Nuh-uh. You should be in your own school.”

“But if I did go to school,” Pidge grins, “How would Hunk and I have given you your present. I had it on me, after all.”

Lance narrows his eyes and purses his lips, “Hmmm. That might be true.”

“It is true,” Pidge deadpans. They poke Lance’s nose before turning to face the rest of the campus. “So what are we doing?”

Rubbing his nose, Lance says, “  _We_ can’t do anything right now. I have class soon. You can hang out in the student lounge or something.”

Lance starts heading toward his class when, in the distance, he spots Shiro. The man catches sight of him too and waves. Pidge follows his line of sight and teases, “I thought you had class soon.”

“That’s my English teacher, Pidge,” Lance is quick to add, “He knows Keith, so I should say hello.”

Shiro finally stands in front of Lance. “Hi Lance.” He then eyes the robot in his hands. “What do you have there?”

Lance lifts the robot proudly, “My buddies made me this as an early christmas present. They call it Funbot™, and it can relay memes!”

Shiro chuckles, “Does it really?”

Lance nods his head enthusiastically, “Yeah! Watch!” Lance lifts the robot so that it is level to his face and says, “What’d you say?”

The robot beeps before replying, “I SAID WHOEVER THREW THAT PAPER YOUR MOM’S A HOE.”

Lance and Pidge burst into laughter and even Shiro can’t help but chuckle.

“That’s very impressive,” Shiro comments.

“Anyway, what’s up? How are you and Keith doing?”

“I’m doing great,” says Shiro, “Keith is helping out at the blood drive today. Have you considered donating blood?”

Lance shrugs, “I dunno. Maybe. It’s just that I’m not so fond of needles.” Shiro nods in understanding.

“I actually came from donating blood myself,” Shiro lifts up his sleeve to show the large bandage on the crook of his elbow.

“Ouch,” Lance blurts. Shiro chuckles.

“I’m sorry, but,” speaks up Pidge, “Have we met before?”

Shiro turns to Pidge and frowns, “No? I don’t believe we have.”

“Then, do you mind if I ask for your name?”

“Not at all,” Shiro extends his prosthetic hand, “Takashi Shirogane, but you may call me Shiro.”

Pidge’s eyes widen and points at the man, “  _You’re_ Shiro?!” Shiro turns to Lance for an explanation, but Lance is just as confused as he is. Did Lance ever mention his English teacher to his friends at all? He doesn’t remember, but he definitely never referred to any of his professors by name to his friends. How does Pidge know him?

As if to answer his question, Pidge explains, “You were friends with my brother and father! Sam and Matt Holt!”

Shiro’s eyes widen, “Sam Holt was your father? Then, you must be Ka-”

“Shhh!” Pidge interrupts. They glance at Lance as if they had forgotten he was standing there. “Lance! Isn’t it about time for you to head to your class?”

“Wait, hold on. What’s going on here?”

Anxious, Pidge looks back and forth between Lance and Shiro. Finally, they sigh and say, “Listen. I’ll tell you later, I promise. I just, can’t get into it now. Not here.”

Just how many secrets did Pidge have? But Lance trusts his friend, so he decides not to press the issue. “Okay. I’ll be leaving now.” Hugging the robot to his chest, Lance takes his leave. Once he thinks he’s far enough away, he looks back and catches sight of Shiro leading Pidge away somewhere. Probably somewhere more private to talk.

Looking down at the little robot in his hands, Lance mutters, “Road work ahead?”

The robot beeps, “UH YEAH I SURE HOPE IT DOES.”

 

-

 

Keith is fine. Absolutely fine. He’s not freaking out in the slightest. Labeling and putting blood bags into coolers, having to look at fresh blood is not a problem. Keith is fine.

Just… so long as he doesn’t smell it.

Ever since he had taken Lance’s blood, Keith went back to drinking cold blood from meat packets. Although Shiro had advised against it since it made warm blood all the more alluring, Keith could handle it. He told himself he would.

But Shiro was right about one thing. While drinking cold blood was somewhat nourishing, Keith would be hit with the withdrawal symptoms the moment he can smell fresh blood. That’s what happened that thanksgiving weekend at the potluck. Lance had cut himself and bled, and the scent made its way to Keith in the small vicinity of the kitchen right away.

If anything, feeding off of butchered meat blood made the withdrawals worse. But Keith is running out of options.

Keith half expected Lance to at least show up, and was a little disappointed when he saw or heard no sign of him. Speaking of Lance, he wonders if he’s doing okay. Keith was curious about what he was staring at so intensely in class the other day, so he had used his powers to look into Lance’s vision only to be somehow sucked into Lance’s consciousness.

It had scared Keith. He’d never done that while either of them were conscious. It was like he was in sync and out of sync with Lance’s mind at the same time. In sync that he could almost even  _read_ Lance’s thoughts, but out of sync when Lance was trying to control his own body. Keith had pulled out of his mind by then, and he noticed how it took a while for Lance to recover from it and get his bearings. After that, Keith had concluded that he should be careful about those powers from now on.

Sighing quietly to himself, Keith focuses on the task at hand, which is to count the amount of blood bags for each blood type.

It would be a lie if Keith hadn’t thought about possibly taking a few bags home today. But that would be impossible with all the people in the mobile with him. He would have to wait until the drive closes and take one from the final inventory check. He  _could_ miscount and just take a few without anyone being any the wiser. Maybe he  _could_ go through with it. After all, there would be no body checks this time.

Right at about closing time, the one in charge of the whole thing announces, “Okay everyone, these next two will be the last ones for the day. Good work, everyone.”

Keith almost sighs in relief until he hears, “Allura, you can go help out Keith with inventory check.”

Shit. Okay, he has to be quick and methodical about this. Allura steps into the mobile and greets Keith, “Hello, Keith. What would you like me to do?”

Keeping a straight face despite his inward panicking, Keith says, “I’d like you to double check that cooler over there,” he points with his pen, “After I’m done with this one, you can check it after me.”

Allura goes to work without another word. Alright. Keith takes a moment to check everyone’s peripheral vision while he pretends to look at the clipboard in his hands. Everyone is focused on the work in front of them, even Allura. Keith takes a moment to count the bags in his cooler and, using his speed ability, takes two and hides it under his jacket.

No one seemed to notice anything peculiar as everyone finishes up. Keith puts on his jacket and slides the bags into his backpack when the supervisor says, “Okay, hold on everyone.” Keith’s anxiety spikes when he sees the supervisor comparing the numbers in their inventory to the check-in numbers. “According to the check-in sheet, we had a total of thirty-two people come in today. So why am I only seeing thirty total bags in our stock.”

Keith mentally curses at himself. How could he forget suck a crucial detail? This will not end well if he’s found out now.

“Can I see?” inquires Allura. Keith watches Allura as she walks up to take the paperwork in her hands and see the numbers herself. He sees her furrow her brows and braces himself.

“I’m sorry,” she says, “I forgot to cross out two people’s names. I remember there were some people who had changed their minds about donating. I’m really sorry about the confusion.”

Keith tries not to let his surprise show at Allura’s words. He can’t know for a fact that what she said was true. But if it wasn’t… Why would she do that?

“You need to be more careful, Allura. But thank you for your honesty.”

“I can assure you, I won’t let it happen again.” As she says that, Keith can’t help but catch the way Allura side-eyes him. Good to know that she still suspects him of something.

 

-

 

For the first time in the whole semester, Lance’s English class was canceled. He had gotten an email from Shiro telling everyone that personal matters had come up, therefore cancelling tonight’s class meetup. While it was nice that he got to go home early, Lance can’t help the nagging feeling that it could have something to do with Pidge.

Lance was tempted to text them several times, but each time he thought about what Pidge had said.

_I’ll tell you later. I promise._

He shouldn’t rush and pressure them about telling him whatever secret they were keeping. Pidge did promise after all.

Lance sighs as he lies down on his bed. He lifts his phone over his face and opens his messages. He starts typing.

 

_Lance: hey man_

_Lance: wanna come over to my house?_

_Lance: class is cancelled so i thought we could hang out_

 

Putting his phone down over his chest, Lance stares up at the ceiling, thinking about what he could do before turning in for the night.

His phone vibrates so Lance picks it up and reads the reply.

 

_Keith: sure_

_Keith: honestly i was getting bored with shiro not home yet_

 

Was Shiro still at school, or did he have to go somewhere else? Either way, Keith is willing to hang out for a while so he shouldn’t keep him waiting for a reply.

 

_Lance: cool i’ll text you the address_

 

After sending his home address, Lance decides to go through his social media. Lance hadn’t realized that he was starting to fall asleep when he suddenly heard a harsh knock on his open bedroom door, making his hand loosen his grip on the phone and letting it fall square in his face.

“Ha, nice.”

Lance sits up to glare at his sister when he sees Keith standing awkwardly behind her.

“You got a visitor,” says Veronica. She waves at Keith as she leaves into the hallway.

Keith steps into Lance’s bedroom. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Lance fumbles a bit as he sits up in his bed, “You can take a seat.”

Keith smiles before walking towards Lance’s desk chair. Once seated, he spins the chair so that he’s facing Lance. “What’s up?”

“Nothin’ much. Oh!” Lance climbs out of bed and approaches his desk, “My friends made me this meme robot for christmas! Look, check it out.”

Lance plucks the little robot off from his desk and turns the switch on. Proudly, Lance places a fist on his hip as he says, “You can’t sit with us.”

The robot beeps, “ACTUALLY, MEGAN, I CAN’T SIT ANYWHERE. I HAVE HEMORRHOIDS.”

Lance didn’t expect Keith to burst into laughter to the point that he starts tearing up. Pretty soon, the laughter becomes contagious enough to make Lance giggle too.

Once Keith calms down, he lets out a blissful sigh as he stretches in the chair, the bottom of his shirt lifting to reveal a sliver of pale skin. Keith may have either felt Lance’s gaze or used his vampire powers because almost teasingly, Keith brings a hand down to rub his tummy.

Heat reaches to Lance’s ears when he looks up to find Keith looking at him with a lazy smile. Laughing nervously, Lance puts the robot back on his desk and makes his way to plop back on his bed.

“It’s good to see you laugh,” he blurts.

“Yeah?”

“Y-yeah!” Lance said a little too loudly. He clears his throat and tries again, “Yeah, it’s good to see you smile, especially when you’ve been feeling down.”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been feeling down lately.”

“Oh, then I must be projecting or something,” Lance smiles awkwardly as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Do you want to talk about what’s been bothering you?”

Lance looks at the floor and sighs. Should he really divulge his insecurities? They seem so minor compared to Keith’s problems. Then again, it’s not like Lance can exactly ask Keith how he’s doing with his feeding in his own house. And Keith  _did_ offer to listen last time. Well, here goes nothing.

“Have you ever felt like you were just dead weight to everyone else? Like no matter what you do, you feel like you’re no use to anyone?”

Keith’s brows knit together, “Is this from what I said last time?”

“No,” Lance pauses, “Well, part of it. I don’t know it’s just that, my friends are super talented with technology and computers and stuff and me? I’m just average. I’m not super smart and I’m decent at every hobby I have, so-”

“Don’t talk like that,” Keith interrupts. “Don’t call yourself average. And don’t say you’re just decent.”

“What? Are you gonna say that I must have this secret talent that I don’t see? Despite what we’ve been through, we still don’t know much about each other.”

Lance didn’t mean to add a bit of sting in his voice at the end, but it seems it didn’t affect Keith. Keith pushes on, “Well, let’s talk it through. What exactly are your hobbies?”

Lance almost regrets ever speaking up. The last thing he wants is a fight with Keith, so he holds back a negative remark and instead, indulges Keith, “Well, I can sing and play guitar.”

“I didn’t know you played.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not  _super_ good if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Show me.”

“What?” Looking at Keith, Lance sees a sort of determination in his eyes, how serious Keith is about this.

Giving in, Lance gets up and walks around Keith to pick up the guitar beside his desk. He sits back on his bed and props the guitar on his knee and begins strumming it.

For a while, Lance just sits there playing different guitar chords. After about a minute, Lance starts singing. Though he isn’t really enunciating the words, just getting a feel for how the melody should sound.

Lance nearly forgets his worries, instead he focuses on the sounds from his guitar and his own voice. There are a couple mistakes in there but Lance doesn’t throw a fit about any of them. Even with Keith there, Lance is only performing for himself. The thought makes him smile.

A moment of silence follows after the final strum of the guitar. Lance takes that moment to look peer up at Keith. Keith, however, is not looking at Lance. He’s staring at the floor, face flushed, and a knuckle in between his teeth.

“Uh, are you okay, man?”

Keith only nods.

Lance leans over his guitar, “Did I unintentionally serenade you?” He quirks and eyebrow playfully.

Keith coughs into his fist, his dark bangs covering his eyes, “You were really good.”

“Thanks,” Lance puts his guitar against the wall beside his bed and lies down, “You know, back in high school, some of my classmates would call me a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. And only just now did I think that it might be true.”

“Do you know the rest of the phrase?”

“What? There’s more?”

Lance nearly jumps when he looks over to see Keith standing next to his bed. He gets up to give the other boy room to sit.

“The saying goes: ‘a jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one.’” Keith rubs his hands together, “Don’t you see, Lance? It doesn’t matter if you don’t have one unique talent. You’re good at a lot of things. You’re good at sports, you can sing, and you have pretty good aim. Remember when you threw a crumpled up paper ball into the trash can from all the way in the back of the class?”

Lance does remember. It was his proudest moment where he got the whole class to go crazy from winning a bet with the teacher about giving the whole class extra credit if he made the shot. But… wait a minute.

“Wait, you remember that?!”

Keith’s eyes widen, “I mean, yeah. I was in that class with you. How could I not remember?”

“But I thought you had forgotten about me until we encountered each other on the first week of class.”

“Well, yeah, because… nevermind.”

“Nonono, tell me,” Lance bounces on the bed.

“No, it’s fine, really.”

“Fine, if you won’t tell me, then I’ll  _make_ you tell me,” surprising Keith, Lance pins him down on his bed. Keith probably has super strength or whatever, yet he’s not making a move to resist.

“Why are you so caught up about this?” Keith giggles.

“Because I, Lance McClain, couldn’t possibly be easily forgotten,” Lance is now hovering over Keith, but now that he’s in this position, he’s blown away by those long lashes and the way Keith’s hair spills over his bedsheets. Lance is practically entranced.

“So what are you gonna do about it?” challenges Keith.

Lance swallows. Having Keith pinned down like this, his intrusive thoughts are telling him, ‘what would happen if you two kissed?’

Keith must have detected Lance’s hesitation when he looks up, concerned, “Lance?”

“Huh? Oh, I-I’m fine. Just, got lost in thought there,” he laughs nervously. He releases his hold on Keith and goes to sit back up. But Lance is suddenly startled when he feels Keith grip his wrist.

“Lance,” Keith breathes. He props himself on one elbow and lets his hand slide up Lance’s arm until it reaches his neck. Keith’s thumb brushes over the hint of a scar from when he bit Lance.

It’s too much. Lance’s intrusive thoughts are yelling at him at this point. Without really thinking, Lance brings a hand to comb through Keith hair, making Keith sigh through parted lips as he closes his eyes.

Lance chuckles, “Are you doing that on purpose?”

Keith blinks a few times, “What.”

Lance just shakes his head as he laughs. “C’mere,” he breathes.

It didn’t take much to beckon Keith closer until, finally, Lance’s lips are brushing against Keith’s. Lance didn’t know what to expect with Keith. He certainly didn’t expect Keith’s lips to be so soft. But the gradual increase in passion of the kiss was certainly something Lance thought Keith would do. Their kiss had started out slow and shy. And then one kiss had turned into two kisses, then three, and so on. With each added kiss, the more bold the both of them had become. Keith went so far as bite Lance’s lower lip, making Lance keen at the action.

When they finally part for air, Keith’s smiles as he pants, “It’s true that I didn’t recognize you at first. Mainly because you look different than how I remembered you.”

“Keith…”

Keith doesn’t let Lance speak anymore as he silences him with another kiss. Keith clings desperately to Lance as their kiss eventually becomes less coordinated and more desperate. A hard knock on the door is what forces them to peel off of each other.

“Lance, is your… friend… staying over? It’s almost 10 o’clock.” Lance just stares dumbly at his mother as Keith attempts to hide his face behind his hands. Lance glances at his clock. It reads 9:56PM. Yikes.

“I should probably get going,” mutters Keith.

Lance quickly gets off of him, “Right. Thanks, Ma.” His mother just smiles knowingly before vanishing into the hallway.

“Sorry,” Keith mumbles.

“What are you saying sorry for?”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Whaaat,” Lance drawls, “You did not embarrass me.” Lance smiles as he pulls Keith closer by the hips and gives the boy a quick peck on the lips, “I’d say anyone would be dying to be in my position right now.”

“Shut up,” Keith blushes as he pushes Lance away. Lance just laughs.

“Do you want me to walk you outside?”

Keith peers up at him through his bangs and smiles, “I’d like that.”

So Lance leads Keith down stairs all the way to the front door without encountering anyone thankfully. They continue walking up until where Keith’s bike is parked.

“Wait,” Lance says as Keith’s about to put on his helmet.

“Hm?”

Lance holds Keith close as he plants another kiss. This time it’s much sweeter, especially when Keith practically moans into the kiss.

Pulling away, Lance rests his forehead against Keith’s and says, “See you soon?”

“Yeah,” Keith breathes.

 


	6. Small World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance hears about what happened during Shiro's disappearance. Later, Keith and Lance have a talk where their feelings for one another are revealed.

Keith is still flying high as he rides his bike all the way home. He can still feel the phantom touch from his and Lance’s kiss. Part of him wanted time to stop and have Lance all to himself while another part was cautious and all too aware of Lance’s dating history involving only girls.

Back in high school, he never thought he would ever have a chance with The Lance McClain. Lance McClain who was always loud and could make the whole class laugh. The very same Lance McClain who could make girls shy and giggle to themselves with just the brightest, most dazzling smile and a sly wink. The same Lance McClain that didn’t seem to like him. Not like Keith really ever cared. He learned from the harsh reality of life to never have high expectations of anyone.

But with the soft looks Lance has thrown his way recently (and that kiss for god’s sake!), Keith is starting to feel a little optimistic.

 

-

 

That Friday, Lance gets a text from Pidge saying that they want to meet up with Allura again. So, after the Garrison high schoolers were released for the weekend, Lance waits in his car 2 blocks away. No way in hell he was gonna try to navigate through that traffic.

Pidge spots him and runs towards the driver’s side. “Hey!” Pidge greets, “I’m really glad you’re helping me with this.”

“No problem,” replies Lance, “I’m just glad I could be of use. Now come on!” He pats the passenger seat, indicating for Pidge to get in the car.

They do as they sling their big backpack into the back of the car. “We’re going to my house. I already told Allura to meet me there.”

Lance puts the car in drive and begins heading towards the direction of Pidge’s house. They sit in comfortable silence as Lance thinks about, well, Keith. He really wants to see him again soon. He’s really come to enjoy the boy’s company. Not to mention he’s a pretty decent kisser. God, Lance is gone.

He was in the middle of an interesting daydream about him when Pidge speaks up. “So, about a couple days ago…”

“Hm?” Lance isn’t entirely paying attention.

“Well, it just so happens that Shiro was a family friend. And he’s going to be there with Allura too. It turns out he’s a survivor of a vampire attack too.”

“Yeah, uh hu- wait. What?!”

Lance slams on the breaks, making the car skid to a halt, which makes the driver behind him honk their horn. Lance waves in apology as he goes back to driving.

“Shiro didn’t tell me about that!”

Pidge’s brows pinch together in confusion, “How could he if he’s just your professor?”

“He’s Keith’s brother!” Then the realization hits Lance, “Oh my god… Wait, but! What about Keith!?”

“What  _ about _ Keith?”

Lance bites his tongue. He can’t necessarily share  _ that _ piece of information.

“Look, Shiro is an important asset to my search. Not to mention, he says he has some knowledge about vampires himself.”

“Does he now,” Lance almost laughs incredulously.

“If it’s too much for you, you can sit outside and wait for us to be done.”

“No, no. I… I want to see what he says.”

 

-

 

Lance’s heart races as he steps up to Pidge’s front door. What is Shiro going to say exactly? Based on the information Pidge gave him in the car and what Keith has told him about his relationship with Shiro, Lance can only conclude that Shiro disappeared because of vampires. If not that, then is he going to try to convince Allura and Pidge that not all vampires are bad? Shiro doesn’t seem to be the type to hold a grudge. And especially with his loving nature towards Keith, Lance just can’t see him hating an entire group like Allura does.

Lance’s worry subsides a little when Pidge opens the door and says, “They won’t be here for another fifteen minutes. So I’ll be setting up in the meantime.”

“Setting up what?”

“My laptop among other things,” Pidge says vaguely as they head to their room upstairs.

Lance would go follow his friend but he won’t understand much about their tech ramblings to really keep up a conversation. So he settles for fiddling with his phone on the couch. Lance registers the sounds coming from the kitchen as Pidge’s mom. His thoughts were confirmed as she steps into the living room with a plate of cookies.

“Hello, Lance,” she greets with a smile.

“Oh, hello Mrs. Gunderson,” Lance smiles back. He notices the tiredness in the woman’s eyes.

“Would you like a cookie? I made them for the other guests too, so be sure not to eat them all.”

“No promises,” Lance says as he reaches from the top pile and scarfes it down, making the woman laugh.

Eventually, Pidge makes it down with a set of microphones and wires.

“Do you need help setting that up, honey?”

“Yeah, thanks mom.”

So Pidge and their mom work together to put together what appears to be a recording set up. They do a couple of tests to make sure the set up is operating correctly by the time the doorbell rings.

“Lance, can you get that?” says Pidge without looking away from their laptop screen.

“Yeah, sure,” says Lance as he gets up from his spot on the couch. His nerves are back but Lance steels himself as he opens the door.

“Oh, did I get the wrong house?” Allura almost turns to leave when Lance waves his hands in a panic.

“Nonono, this is Pidge’s house. You’re at the right place.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Allura smiles, “It’s good to see you, Lance.”

Lance steps aside to let Allura in. Once she’s inside, Lance closes the door and leads her to the living room.

“Hello, everyone,” Allura greets warmly. She looks around at the coffee table covering in wires, “What’s all this for?”

“Hey Allura,” Pidge smiles, “While I’m usually pretty good at note-taking, I thought I could record our conversations for reference, and in case I might’ve missed something. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“Of course, what a great idea, Pidge.”

“Alright! You can have a seat while we wait for Shiro.” Pidge gestures to the couch.

Pidge’s mom stands up from her hunched position over the coffee table, “I’ll be out on the front porch waiting for Shiro. Holler if you need me.” She lets her hand comb through Pidge’s hair as she makes her exit.

So the three of them wait until their final guest would arrive. Allura breaks the silence by whispering to Lance, “Normally, I’d be cautious around someone even only after one meeting…”

Lance looks at Allura, a bit confused. She continues, “But, after your comforting words to me last time, I feel as though I can trust you like I’ve come to trust your friend Pidge.”

Taken aback, Lance fumbles for what to say. “Well, I mean, uh, no problem.” Great. Way to reciprocate the sentimentality. Lance tries again, “I try to see the good in people. And if I see a friend who’s hurting or suffering, I try my best to ease their pain. It’s usually through dumb jokes to get them to laugh or something.”

Allura laughs softly, “A bit naive to think there can be good found in everyone, but you have a pure heart.”

Lance opens his mouth to make a rebuttal when the sound of loud greetings coming from beyond the front door makes him jump a little.

The door opens to reveal Shiro and Pidge’s mom entering the living room, with the latter appearing a bit teary eyed. After a quick hug between the two, Shiro takes a seat in one of the living room chairs.

“Sorry I’m late,” he says with a sort of sheepish smile.

“No worries, Shiro,” replies Pidge, “Okay, first order of business: let’s take turns going over what we know.”

“I say Shiro should start first,” says Allura.

“Alright then,” Pidge configures with the tech set up until Lance hears a faint “beep”.

“Uh, wow. Now I’m kinda nervous to start.” Shiro taps a finger against the arm rest of his chair. “Okay, so. I was, I believe, kidnapped by a group of vampires when I was out on vacation with a couple of friends. Those friends included Pidge’s father and brother, and my fiance Adam.”

“We were hiking in the woods and it started getting dark. The sun was setting when our rental car broke down mysteriously. It was too convenient when another group of hikers came by in their own jeep and offered to take us back to town. It was only when we already hitched the ride that we realized that we were moving  _ away  _ from town.”

Lance is wide eyed as he watches Shiro tell his tale. 

“I don’t remember much about what happened next. I remember tumbling out of the vehicle in an effort to get away. And then nothing…”

After a short pause, Allura says, “It’s probably best to assume that your kidnappers knocked you unconscious in your attempt to escape.”

Shiro closes his eyes and it’s the first time Lance has ever seen him look so utterly exhausted.

“I was shocked when I learned that over a year had passed when I came back.”

“How did you return?”

“My first memory of ever coming back was being in a dark van of some sort. With other people. I think they were a resistance group against vampires?” Shiro furrows his brows in frustration, “Ah. Sorry, I can’t remember.”

“That’s okay, Shiro,” Allura reaches over and squeezes Shiro’s hand. He squeezes back.

“I think,” Shiro breathes, “I was made into a meal for them. I was isolated for so long, I forgot what it felt like… to feel alive. I… I thought I was dead, but,” Shiro squeezes harder. Allura clamps a second hand over his.

“The next thing I know, they had taken my arm.”

Silence penetrates the room. Lance doesn’t know how to describe what he’s currently feeling. Fear? Sorrow? Hatred? If Lance had to say, it would be a mix of all of them.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything helpful,” Shiro says after a moment.

“Don’t worry about it,” assures Pidge, “Actually, I think that information is vital to our search. Don’t you think, Allura?”

“I agree,” replies Allura, “It means that vampires are indeed living close among us.”

“We could track one down, see if it leads to the whole flock,” suggests Pidge.

“I may have found the vampire for the job,” announces Allura.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a…  _ suspicious _ individual from where I work that I have been keeping an eye on for a while now. I don’t have any evidence that they’re actually a vampire, yet.”

“Alright. While Allura finds that evidence, I’ll continue my research about them. We’re gonna need as much information about them as we can. Especially on their weakest points.”

New found determination could be felt throughout the room. Tactics were drawn out; plans were suggested. By the end of it, everyone had a role to play. Pidge would continue their research. Allura would conduct some experiment scenarios and observe their suspect much more closely. Even Shiro will look into why the college he teaches at would try to hide his capture. No one really had a role in mind for Lance.

“I say keep it all under wraps,” Pidge tells Lance. “Hunk, who I know is your best friend in the whole world, can’t know about this. Or anyone else for that matter.”

Lance merely nodded. Of course he didn’t have any knowledge about vampires that the group didn’t already know. He could’ve left it at that. Remain a background character in Pidge’s mission to get their family back.

But Lance wanted to be useful. So he opened his big mouth and said the first thing on his mind.

“But I know someone who could help us.”

Now everyone is staring at him with wide-eyed, bewildered expressions. Lance only looks at Shiro though. Seeking for silent permission because, without a doubt, Shiro knows what he’s talking about.  _ Who  _ he’s talking about. So after a brief pause, Shiro lets the corner of his mouth curl up a bit, signaling for Lance to continue.

“I mean, I would have to tell them about all of this,” he gestures vaguely, “So, like… I don’t know. They, uh, know a lot about vampires too.”

“Are you just saying that? Or is this person you’re talking about has genuine information?” Deadpans Pidge. “Oh, and  _ Twilight _ doesn’t count.”

“I’m being serious,” Lance suddenly stands, “Why would you think I wouldn’t take this seriously? People’s lives could be on the line.”

“Lance,” Allura speaks up, “No one said you weren’t. And besides, we will have to meet them first before you decide to drag them into this, as you say, perilous mission.”

Lance takes a deep inhale and exhales as he sits back on the couch. He can feel Allura’s hand rubbing against his back, calming him. When he feels calm enough, he tries again. “I just want to be helpful in some way. I promise that what they have to say will be useful.”

Pidge gives him a sympathetic smile, “Okay. Talk to them first so that they know what they’re getting into.”

Lance smiles back, “Okay, I will.”

 

-

 

The time nears 6PM by the time Shiro makes it back home. It’s the sound of the front door opening and closing that wakes Keith up. Normally Keith wouldn’t wake up until past 8PM, but with Shiro finally home, Keith is eager to greet him.

Keith stumbles out of bed, his eyes immediately adjust to the darkness in his room. On sluggish steps, Keith makes his way to the living room. A dim light from the lamp near the front door blinds him a little, but he can make out the silhouette of his older brother.

“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Shiro greets. 

Keith groans in reply, rubbing at his eye. “How was your meeting?”

“It was… interesting.”

“Oh really?” Keith’s tone slips into something teasing. “I thought your meetings were usually boring.”

“This meeting certainly wasn’t boring I can say that much.” Keith follows Shiro as both head into the kitchen.

It’s become a sort of routine. Shiro comes home in the late hours of the night just as Keith wakes up to start his day (or night). Keith especially makes a point to greet Shiro every time. The pain of having him gone may have made Keith a bit paranoid over his brother’s safety. He truly loves his brother.

Except on particular days when Shiro feels like teasing him. “So how’s your relationship with that boy Lance going?”

Keith sputters on his water he was drinking. “What? Relationship?” His voice cracks. “What are you talking about?”

“What?” Shiro shrugs his shoulders, his smile a little too innocent, “I just couldn’t help but notice how the two of you are getting friendly towards each other.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, we hung out a few times. So what?”

“‘So what?’ I’m just happy that you’re having a genuine connection with another person. That’s all.”

Keith narrows his eyes in suspicion before taking another sip from his glass.

“Are you going to meet with him again soon?” Keith pauses. The last time had been mere days ago. If he was being honest, Keith would say he was  _ aching  _ to see Lance again. He’s suddenly reminded of the kiss. Being in Lance’s bed. Lance hovering above him. Lance combing his hands through his hair. Lance-

“Keith, you’re face is turning red.”

Keith unceremoniously drops his glass in the sink before storming out of the kitchen. 

“No its not!” His voice cracks again, “You’re delusional.”

Shiro chuckles as he follows Keith into the living room. Keith plops himself on the couch, arms crossed and pout on his lips.

Shiro sits down next to him. “Okay, but seriously, are you planning on hanging out with him soon?”

“Well, we haven’t really exchanged any texts since we hung out a couple days ago. So, I don’t know.”

“And why is that?”

“Uh, that ‘cause uh,” Keith fumbles for what to say. Normally he’s so blunt about a lot of things, but apparently sharing news about an intimate experience with someone to Shiro, the person he’s closest to, has Keith feeling bashful. “We sorta…”

Shiro’s face falls, “Did you two fight?”

“What? No, no. Actually, we… kissed.”

“Ahh,” Shiro leans back, “Young love is it?”

Keith tips his head back and groans as he drags his palms down his face.

“So you must be thinking about how  _ that _ affects your relationship with him,” wonders Shiro. “Well, the best way to figure all this out is by talking to him. In person would be the best bet.”

Keith considers Shiro’s words. It’s true he’s not going to get anywhere in trying to figure out what that kiss meant. (Though it was more like a make out session, but Keith would never divulge that much information to Shiro.) He didn’t want to believe that they were a thing now in case Lance changes his mind. Keith hopes that won’t be the case.

Finally, Keith says, “Okay, I’ll try to meet with him this weekend.”

Shiro smiles and pats Keith on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about what could go wrong. I’m positive he likes you back.”

Keith smiles back, “Thanks, Shiro.” He gets up from the couch to head to his room.

“Oh, and Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Use protection.”

It takes a couple of seconds for Keith to understand what Shiro means. When he does, his face immediately turns another shade of scarlet.

“Shut up.” Keith mumbles. Shiro laughs.

 

-

 

By 6PM on saturday, Lance reads over the text exchange from that morning. He would be going over to Keith’s place in a while, however the nerves in him keep on building up the closer the meeting time gets. Lance thought reading the conversation over would calm his nerves, but in fact, it has the opposite effect.

 

_ Lance: hey i wanna see u _

_ Keith: i wanna see you too _

_ Keith: when do you want to meet? _

_ Lance: whoa i thought u were supposed to be sleeping?? _

_ Keith: i tend to sleep later in the day _

_ Keith: do you want to come over tonight? _

_ Lance: yeah that’s cool _

_ Lance: i wanna talk to u about something important _

_ Keith: I have something to talk to you about too _

_ Lance: okay _

_ Lance: i’ll be there at like 6:30 _

_ Keith: ok i’ll be waiting _

 

If Lance had to guess, Keith probably wants to talk about what happened at his house last time. Lance has been meaning to talk about that too. If anything, it’s Lance’s top priority. Even if he somehow manages to convince Keith to help his friend Pidge, he wants Keith to help because he wants to, not because he has to. Plus, there’s the added fact that Keith tends to keep to himself. Lance half expects him to refuse outright.

Lance fidgets with his phone as he sits impatiently on his bed, staring at his clock. Finally, he thinks to hell with it and grabs his keys. It’s alright if he shows up a little early right? He won’t appear desperate, right?

Once he’s seated in the driver’s seat of his car, Lance sighs. Even if he hadn’t gone to help Pidge, Lance would have wanted to meet up anyway. Ever since last time, he couldn’t get Keith out of his mind. The feel of his hair between his fingers. His hand gingerly cradling his neck as his soft lips molded against his.

Lance rubs a hand across his face and into his hair to clear his head. He puts the key in the ignition and soon, heads to his destination. 

He finds a visitor parking spot once he arrives at the complex. Lance steps out of the car, the cold air chilling him. It’s already december, meaning that the holiday parties are coming soon as well as finals. Lance is feeling good about almost all of his classes except for Astronomy. He’ll have to meet up with his professor about his current grade in the class and how his final exam will reflect that.

Soon, Lance is standing in front of Keith’s door. He knocks softly a couple times until the door eventually opens to reveal Shiro.

“Hey,” Shiro smiles, “We’ve been expecting you.”

“We?” Lance tries not to deflate at the inclusion of Shiro into the whole mix. Don’t get him wrong, he liked the guy. It’s just that some thing are better left between the parties that are involved.

“Technically it’s just Keith. I just wanted it to be known that I’m here in case, well, you know.” A faint blush creeps up Lance’s neck and into the tips of his ears. “Please, come in.” Shiro steps aside to allow Lance to walk in. Once inside, he spots Keith leaning against the wall of the hallway.

“Hi,” breathes Lance.

“Hi,” mumbles Keith.

Even though they are a few feet away from each other, Lance can feel the electricity between them. Standing there, just watching one another. That’s when Shiro decides to step in the line of sight of both boys.

“I’ll be out here in the living room watching a movie.” He turns to Keith, “Keep your door open.” 

Keith playfully shoves him as he approaches Lance. “C’mon.” He takes Lance’s hand and starts leading him to his bedroom.

Oh god, his bedroom.

Before he knows it, Lance is pushed down on Keith’s bed with Keith straddling him.

“Keith…” whispers Lance.

Keith silences him by pressing his mouth against his own. Lance kisses back eagerly, matching and increasing with Keith’s passion. He wraps his arms around Keith’s waist and pulls him flush against him. Keith makes a pleased sound from the back of his throat. 

He pulls back, breathless, and lets his hands run through Lance’s hair.

“Sorry, I just, I just wanted to feel you one more time before you said anything.”

Lance doesn’t reply. He just stares at Keith with his mouth slightly agape. He watches as Keith slowly gets off of his lap and sits on the edge of his bed. Coming back to his senses, Lance scrambles to sit next to him and actually start talking.

“Wow, that was…” he laughs nervously.

“A-anyway,” Keith isn’t quite facing Lance as he speaks, but Lance can see the slight blush tainting his cheeks. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Oh, um,” Lance rubs at the back of his neck, “Well, it might be something similar to what you’re going to talk about. So…” He gestures vaguely, “About this whole thing. About us. I, uh, really like you.”

He hears a soft gasp escape Keith. When he finally turns to look at him, Lance locks eyes with him. “I mean, I  _ really _ like you. I could even love you.”

Keith is speechless for a moment. Watching his expression, Lance could only describe it as someone who’s on the verge of tears. He hopes it’s tears of joy.

Finally, Keith responds. “I really like you too.” It was so quiet that Lance nearly couldn’t hear him.

“Oh my god Keith,” Lance scoots closer to Keith’s spot on the bed. He takes his hand in one of his while the other hand caresses Keith’s cheek. His thumb rubs tenderly at the spot under his eye.

“Lance,” whispers Keith. A stray tear falls from his eye, which Lance wipes away. “I’m so happy right now.” Keith laughs quietly.

Lance promises then and there to always bring a smile to Keith’s face, to get that laugh out of him as much as possible.

“Um, so,” says Keith, his expression morphing into something shy, “Are we boyfriends now?”

“Oh my god, Keith, yes.” No sooner than pronouncing the ‘s’ in ‘yes’, Lance brings their faces together for another kiss. This kiss felt different compared to the few they’ve exchanged so far. It didn’t feel rushed or desparate. Instead, they kissed slow and deep. They had all the time in the world now.

Eventually, Lance breaks the kiss to push Keith down on his bed. He hovers above the other boy, reaches his hand under Keith’s chin and pulls him in for another kiss. Keith moans softly as he drags his hands from his grip on Lance’s neck down his back. Lance shifts a little when Keith suddenly pulls a hand back to stifle a moan. Confused, Lance shuffles a little more until Keith uses his strength to still him. Then Lance feels it.

Oh.

Keith has his head turned the other away in what Lance assumes is in shame and embarrassment. 

“Hey,” He makes Keith look at him by holding his face in his hands, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact,” he leans down and whispers, “It means I’m doing a good job.”

A small whine escapes Keith. Lance laughs softly. 

“What do you want to do?” Lance brings a hand down to cup Keith’s neck, thumb brushing over the pulse point.

Keith swallows, “I… I don’t know. It’s all going so fast.”

“That’s okay. We can cuddle if you want.”

Keith just nods his head.

After a bit more of shuffling, both boys are lying down. Lance has Keith tucked in the crook of his neck while his hands rub at Keith’s back in lazy circles. In this position, Keith could easily bite Lance and take his blood again. The thought crossed Lance’s mind, but it only made him cling the other boy tighter. He isn’t afraid of what Keith is. All that matters is  _ who  _ Keith is. He may be rough around the edges, but his soul is soft and warm. Keith, who could become a ravenous monster, is capable of being kind and loving.

“By the way,” Lance speaks up after a long moment of silence, “How are you doing with the blood thing?”

Keith exhales through his nose. “I’m okay for the moment. I got a chance to take a few blood bags from the blood drive, so I’ll be good for a while.”

Lance moves a hand to tangle in Keith’s dark locks, making Keith sigh in bliss. “That’s good.”

“Uh, Lance?”

“Hm?”

“There’s… something that I wanted to talk to you about.” Keith pulls back to sit up properly. Lance does the same. “I haven’t exactly told you all about my… vampire nature.”

Lance just stares at Keith. He hasn’t explained everything? Was there more to it? Lance wasn’t sure what Keith was getting at exactly, so he smiles in encouragement. “Take your time. Whatever it is, I promise I won’t freak out and run away or something like that.”

Keith smiles back. Now feeling braver, Keith goes on, “I haven’t really told you about all of my powers. There’s actually one more that’s a bit hard to describe. I guess it’s kinda like appearing in people’s dreams?”

Lance nods, encouraging Keith to continue.

“And I’ve been doing it on you since the beginning of the semester, when we first saw each other again.”

“So, what you’re saying is,” says Lance, “You’ve been astral projecting into my dreams when I sleep?”

“Yeah, you could put it that way.”

“Whoa.”

“But I don’t want you to think I was manipulating you or anything! I don’t control the dreams, I just appear in them and your dreamself reacts to me. Like a subconscious thing.”

“Okay, just, whoa,” Lance stands from the bed and starts pacing, taking it all in. “But, I don’t understand. You said you’ve been doing that since we saw each other. But, at that time, I wasn’t exactly friendly towards you.”

“Y-yeah, about that,” Keith looks down at the floor. The tilt of his head makes his bangs cover his eyes. “I’ve… had a crush on you since high school. When I saw you again in that elevator, I tried to push my feelings away ‘cause I just, didn’t think I would ever have a chance with you.”

Lance immediately stops his pacing and turns to look at Keith. This guy, sitting in front of him, was supposedly his “rival” in junior year. Lance had come to terms with the rivalry as just a way of getting his attention. Lance assumes now would be the appropriate time to announce that he’s buried the hatchet.

“Hey, hey, Keith. Look at me,” Lance is now standing directly in front of him, both of his hands on Keith’s shoulders. When Keith does look up, Lance continues, “You may not have heard of this, but the reason for that whole rivalry thing back in high school was just a ploy for you to pay attention to me.”

Keith is quiet and Lance is worried he may have said something wrong until Keith bursts out laughing. His laughter is contagious and soon, both of them are laughing and clinging to each other in an effort to control their volume.

When they finally calmed down enough, Keith says, “Were we destined to be together or something?”

“Hey, that should be my line!”

Lance feels light with happiness. He would’ve stayed for the night if he could, but that may be going a bit too fast. They kissed each other goodnight before Lance made it back home.

 

-

 

After Astronomy class ended, Lance walks up to his professor who is still in the process of packing up his things.

“Uh, professor Coran?”

The professor looks up at Lance and smiles, “Ah, Lance. What can I do for you?”

“I was wondering about my grade in the class. I know there’s only a week left until the final exam, but I just wanted to know what grade I’ll get if I don’t do well on the final.”

“Ah, of course. Well, I don’t have another class to teach until much later, so we can go on to my office right now.” Coran finishes packing and leads the way to his office. In that time, Lance thinks about how he’s been doing on all of his assignments. He’s not exactly failing, but Lance really wants to get a good grade. High school Lance would have been fine with getting at least a C. But now, Lance is aiming for A’s and B’s.

“Here we are,” Coran announces. “You will have to pardon the mess.” He opens the door and wow Coran was right there’s paperwork, books, and folders littered around a desk in the corner. Lance takes a seat in a chair in front of the desk as Coran haphazardly navigates through the mess on his desk. 

While Coran’s searching, Lance looks around the office. It’s a pretty standard looking office minus the mess and a few framed photos. He spots a picture of Coran with a dark-skinned bearded man. Another picture frame shows that same man except he appears much younger and is with a long haired dark-skinned little girl. Lance is surprised to see the little girl having platinum blonde hair. He looks back at his professor and sees that Coran has settled for looking under his desk, giving Lance a chance to view the shelf behind him. And just as he suspected, its a picture of Coran with a girl he’s definitely seen before.

“Who’s that?” Lance points at the shelf. 

Coran sits back up and looks in the direction of Lance’s finger. He spots the picture frame and his expression immediately softens.

“One would say she’s my goddaughter. But I’m just her legal guardian.” He turns to Lance. “Her name’s Allura. She’s about your age.”

“Yeah, that’s who I thought it was.”

“Oh, how do you know Allura?”

Lance doesn’t quite know how to respond to that. He knows the secret Allura carries around her, but he’s not quite sure about her legal guardian. Coran did know, right? Deciding not to risk anything, he goes with a more vague answer.

“I met her through a mutual friend.”

Coran gives a hearty laugh, “My, what a small world we live in.”

Lance looks at the photo of younger Allura again. How she looks so happy and innocent, completely unaware of the fate she would have surrounding her family. The bearded man must have been her father, who left this world along with the rest of Allura’s family.

“Yeah,” says Lance, “Small world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are getting spicy  
> [mon twitter](http://twitter.com/takybastard)


End file.
